iMake a Great Escape
by kmwkimba
Summary: Sam and Freddie each run away from home for their own reasons, leaving everything behind them. But they run into each other at a meadow and decide to be on the run together. Adventures and changing feelings will occur. Sam and Freddie are 16 Seddie!
1. The End and the New Beginning

Imake a Great Escape

**Sam's POV**

Her cold hand struck across my already sore face as her fingers made their impression on my cheek. The pain burned through me like a wild fire. My mouth hung open as I turned my head to face my attacker. My mother stood before me, drunk again, as she always was.

Her hand was still in the air as she smiled evilly at me. "Let me tell you again, in case you haven't caught on, brat." She spat her words out at me.

"We don't have food here. My job is not to feed you. I don't even have to give you a home, but I do. You should be happy you live with me in this rat hole. Now why don't you go out on the streets and scour some food for the both of us."

I shook my head at her with disgust. "Alright," I told her and looked her straight in the eye. "But this time, I'm not coming back." I turned on one foot and headed to the door as I picked up my backpack already filled to the top with food and other things I might need if I ran away.

I slung it casually over my shoulder and walked out of the dump I called a home, forever.

I didn't really know where I was going. I never did, actually. I usually just ended up somewhere and found a box to sleep in for the night, or on lucky days, found enough money on the street to get a hotel room.

But that was usually just for the night. This time I wasn't ever going to come back. I was just leaving all of the crap in my life behind me.

Truth be told, I was a little rusty. I hadn't run away since the day before I met Freddie, five years ago. Recently, I would just stay the night over at Carly's place.

She understood everything. And though I would never admit it to a soul, being near Freddie always seemed to…calm me down for some reason. And he lived right across the hall from Carly.

I was now just wandering the streets a few miles away from "home". My eyes caught sight of a little meadow and I instantly thought it would be a nice place to sleep, just for tonight.

I started to get excited and thought I was doing a good job, for my first night on the run in a while. I was going so fast I hardly noticed the familiar blur of a boy about to collide with me headfirst.

**One Hour Earlier, Freddie's POV**

I sat on Carly's couch as she came through the door to her apartment with the biggest smile I've seen her have in a while plastered on her face. I stared at her, like she was the most beautiful thing in the world as she turned around and saw me sitting there. "Oh, hey, Freddie," she greeted me looking a little confused. "What are you doing here so late?"

"I'm always over here. I was just waiting for you to come home so we could hang out or something." I offered as an answer. She sighed and said, "I know, but you shouldn't have waited up for me." She paused as she got a dreamy look in her eyes. "I was busy being on the best date in the world with Griffin. He took me to see the new movie, '_Move on, Dork.'" _

Right. I forgot Carly was out with another guy for the third time this week. Carly knew I loved her, but I don't think she understood how much it hurt when she rejected me.

My heart sank, and it got to the point where I just could not take it anymore. I had to do something about this. I couldn't go on suffering every time she talked about her dates. I knew what I had to do now. "Carly?" I called to her, snapping her out of her ramble about the movie. "Yeah?" she asked me.

"Will you go out with me? Right now. We can go to the park or ice skating. I'll even go to glitter gloss if you go with me and call it a date." I pleaded with her. Carly smiled at me and shook her head and said "Freddie, I have told you a thousand times. No. You're just not the guy for me."

She patted my shoulder and walked right past me over to the kitchen to eat some dinner. I bit my lower lip and knew what I must do, for sure now. "Carly, I…have to go. I'm sorry, my mom will probably be wondering where I am at this hour. You know how she is," I said without bothering to look at her.

I could hear Carly's voice behind me say, "Sure thing, Freddie. I get it. I'll see you tomorrow at school then."

"Bye." I said as I walked out of her apartment. She wouldn't see me tomorrow at school, because I wasn't going. I didn't know where I was going but it wasn't school. When I was in the hallway I walked straight past my door to the elevator. I wasn't going to say goodbye to my mother. She'd never let me leave.

Instead I found myself wandering west from my apartment building into the deserted streets of Seattle. I just walked for several miles and thought about what I was doing. I had never run away before. I was mommy's little boy. I just needed to get out for a while and just have nothing to worry about.

I was about a mile away from the apartment when I saw a little meadow that looked like it might have berries or something in it. And I was hungry, as I didn't even eat dinner. My stomach did a flip and I started to run towards the meadow and possibly food. I was so excited I had no idea there was another person running right towards me.

Then our bodies collided as I yelled "OOF" and fell to the ground as did the mysterious girl I ran into. I felt guilty and immediately began apologizing. "I am so sorry; I didn't think there would be any…" I stopped as my eyes fell on the face of the girl. "Sam?" I asked shocked. "Fredweird?" She asked, clearly as puzzled as I was.

"What are you doing in the middle of a meadow at this hour?" She asked me, almost yelling. I was taken aback. I couldn't just come out and tell her I was running away. She would tell someone and I'd have to come home. "I…" I started some excuse before she cut me off.

"You're running away, aren't you?" So much for trying to hide it. Sam looked amused.

"Maybe," I suggested.

"Clearly, you are. You're not a good liar, Freddo." She said as she shifted her weight. "You're so stupid," she half laughed as she turned to on her foot lightly. "No, I'm not! I have a perfectly good reason to be running away." She looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"I was actually going to suggest you were stupid for running away without any supplies. But you now have me curious about this reason." She said.

"Since when are you the expert on running away?" I asked her disbelievingly, and then it hit me. "Hey, you're running away too, aren't you?" I accused her.

She scoffed. "Took you that long to figure out did it?" she casually stated. "Now why did you run away?"

I gave in and told her. "I just can't take Carly going out with all these guys anymore. I think I still love her."

Sam looked rather peeved about this. "That's your reason? Carly will never love you? Oh get over it." She rolled her eyes at me.

"Well I happen to think it's a perfectly good reason," I defend.

"Pfft," Is her response.

"Well what kind of reason do you have to be running away?" I ask her accusingly.

The smile drops from her face and she bites her lip, thinking. "That's none of your business, Fredward."

"What?!" I exclaim. "I tell you why I ran away, but you don't have to tell me?" I ask her.

"Yep, that's pretty much how it works."

"That's not fair at all!" I argue.

"Eh, what you gonna do about it? Cry to mommy? Mommy won't be here anymore. Unless, of course, you're heading back home?" She cocked her head to the side and looked at me. But I wasn't going to go home. I was sticking this out. "No." I confirmed. "I'm not going back."

"Okay, as long as you don't regret it when we're in a life or death situation." She says.

"We?" I ask. Did I hear that right?

"Yeah," she smiles at me. "Unless you're ready to face the big bad world by yourself. But I think you could use a little of my help." She laughed as if by 'little' she meant 'a huge freaking amount of help'. I only needed to ponder this for a second before I realized she was right. "Alright. I'll go with you." I gave in. She smiled at me like she never did before. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "Okay, great. You can help me with everything too."

"That should be so much fun." I said sarcastically.

"Oh don't worry it _will _be," she told me.

"So what do we do now?" I ask her as she licks her lips. "Who knows? We got the whole Earth ahead of us and all the time in the world."


	2. Discovery

**Freddie's POV**

I watched the blonde next to me as the moon glistened on her face. I was in the middle of nowhere and I had no idea what to do. My fate lies in the hands of the irresponsible girl I called a friend.

She was on the grass rummaging through the contents of the backpack she had brought with her as I watched her crouching with my arms crossed over my knees.

The wind blew her hair as she threw food after food over her shoulder as she tried to reach the bottom of the bag. Finally, her face lit up as she had found what she was looking for and pulled out a large, red blanket. "Found it," she breathed a sigh of relief as she began to spread it across the ground.

"What's that for?" I asked curiously, clueless as I was.

She looked at me wide eyed and scoffed, "Well where do you think I'm going to sleep?"

A pang of terror hit me. "What? We don't get beds?"

She twisted up her face and added, bewildered, "Uh, no. Did you think we were taking a trip to perfect paradise, Fredwina?"

I stood up and shook my hands violently. "Where am I supposed to sleep then? You know if Carly was here, I bet she wou—"

I was interrupted by blindness when an old blanket hit me in the face. I let it fall into my hands and then looked at the thrower as she said, "Relax. I brought an extra, I always come prepared. I wonder if your precious Carly would have remembered that."

I didn't say anything but inspected the blanket instead. It was much older than the one Sam was using and had several holes and ketchup stains in it. But still, a blanket was a blanket. I looked back up at Sam, her blue eyes still gazing at me. "I bet she would have," I finished.

Sam half smiled and tilted her head. She turned back to her backpack as I whispered, "Thanks." She didn't seem to hear me and instead pulled some neatly wrapped packages of chocolate chip cookies. She went gingerly over to her blanket, opened the cookies, and began eating them. "Food!" I shouted in delight. I had just remembered how hungry I was.

I went to grab an identical package to the one Sam was eating as she shot me an evil look. But it seemed she settled an inner battle with herself and relaxed her glare as I sat down on the blanket beside her. Before I knew it we were both on our backs looking up at the stars, still eating cookies.

"You know, you owe me for this Benson." She began. Without looking at her I asked, "For what?"

"Everything," she replied simply. "I am going to supply you food and shelter for a while and teach you how to survive out here."

"hmmmm."

"So in return, you need to do something for me," she said looking over at me for the first time with a grin slowly conquering her mouth.

My eyes widened and I nervously asked her, "What?"

"You have your liscence right?"

The daredevil part of me deep inside me seemed to know where this was going. "Yessss," I replied slowly gauging her reaction. She broke into a wide grin. Before she could get too happy I quickly added, "But I don't have a car."

"That's ok." Sam simply replied. Thinking I had won I began to relax a bit more. "You can still steal one." I jumped a little. "Sam! I'm not stealing a car!" She made a pouty face. "Come on, Benson. Do you want to survive out here or not?"

"I want to refrain myself from not breaking any laws."

She opened her eyes a little wildly. "Well then you should just give up on that goal right now."

"No."

"Fine. Go home then and watch Carly be attached to Griffin's hip all day." She said somewhat bitterly. Whatever she was trying to accomplish worked. We sat in silence for a few minutes until I asked, "Why do you want a car anyway for?"

"I want to get away from here, just, you know maybe visit someone or something." She replied with a distant look in her eyes. "Like who?" I ask her. She merely shrugged her shoulders and then let out a slight laugh, "I don't even know."

It was strange seeing her like that. She almost looked vulnerable, like she really had nowhere else to go. I watched for a minute as she gracefully put a cookie into her mouth until she realized I was watching her and turn to look at me with a questioning look. Without hesitating I just sighed and said, "All right, I'll think about maybe borrowing one."

She melted with joy and smiled. "Thank you, you know you're not that bad Freddork."

"Thanks, I guess," I slyly grinned to her.

"Did you bring money?" She asked me.

I checked in my pocket. There I found my wallet with 203 dollars inside of it. "Yeah, two hundred and three." This seemed to please her. "Great. You can have the honor of buying us breakfast tomorrow." I winced. "Why me?"

"Because," she turned to me as if she was stating the obvious "you might as well appreciate real food while you can. This isn't a vacation we're going on."

I sighed again and rolled my eyes. "Oh all right."

We both lied down and looked up at the stars. They were really beautiful; you never got to appreciate them outside of this little meadow. Sam broke the silence this time by saying, "So how bad do you think your mother is freaking out right now?"

"Oh my gosh!" I had completely forgotten about my mother. Knowing her, she probably has every police officer in the Seattle area looking for me by now, and it had only been about two hours. I told Sam this and she completely agreed. "Yeah, you never told her you were leaving?"

"Are you kidding me?" I let out a half annoyed half amused laugh thinking about it. "If I had suggested it, she would have locked me in my room for a month."

Sam cocked an eyebrow as she said, "Good point."

"What about your mom?" I asked her. She turned away from me and sprawled across the blanket, so I couldn't see her face. "Eh, I don't know. She probably won't care much." I sensed something was wrong, but I wouldn't push her any farther. "Oh, all right."

For the rest of the night we talked and laughed about stupid things. I expected be up worrying all night about what the heck I was trying to pull here. But I didn't think about it much. Somewhere along the way the laughter started to fade and I yawned. The last thing I heard before sleep took me in was, "Past your bed time, Benson?"

**Sam's POV**

The faint rays of light burning through my eyelids caused me to regain consciousness. It took me but a second to remember what had happened last night. I turned to look at the dark haired boy next to me, who was still fast asleep.

It was hard to believe he was really here with me, and more or less under my command. He didn't realize how happy I was to have him here with me. He made me feel that I wasn't alone, even for a moment. Taking one last glance at his sleeping form, I gently whacked him on the head.

As he immediately shot up, he screamed and shouted "Sam!" I shrugged at him. I waited a few seconds as he remembered why he was sleeping next to me in the middle of a meadow. After enough time, I said, "You're taking me out to breakfast, remember?"

He solemnly nodded and said "Yeah."

"Well, ok then. Let's go." I got up and dusted myself off. "Well, give me a few minutes to get ready, ok?" I nodded towards him and replied with, "Sure, sure." I looked through my bag and grabbed a fresh pair of clothes. I looked at Freddie and saw he was looking at me and thinking. He said, "I need some clothes." It was as if he were asking me for some.

"Oh," I said with a fake big smile, "let me just pull that out of my bag of wonders here then." He looked satisfied until he saw a white bra flying towards his face. He looked at it with wide eyes and then threw it back to me. "Well, what did you expect?" I asked him a little more lovingly.

"I didn't know you were coming." As I thought about it some more I added half to myself as I looked off to the side. "Actually, you're the last person I had expected to be travelling with." His face dropped some. "Yeah, I know." I heard him mutter.

"Just wear those clothes. Your mother isn't here." I added, strangely trying to help.

"Yeah, okay I will." He stood up.

"Hey can you pick up that stuff for me? I'm going to go get changed." I asked him. I wandered off into the woods. I looked back once and he was doing as I asked of him. I grinned and began changing behind some trees into some jeans and a red tank top.

When I was done I went to pick up my clothes from the ground. Under my clothes there was a tiny heart shaped locket. Curious, I picked it up and opened it. Inside there was only two letters: _S & F_. I laughed at the irony.

That was of course, Freddie and mine's initials. But in a heart shaped locket? It might as well be _C & F_ for as much as I'll ever get through to him. It's not like I loved him anyway, but still he was…special to me. I put the locket in my pocket for safekeeping anyway and went back to Freddie.

He had everything packed up and was carrying my backpack slung over one shoulder as he watched the birds flying away. He noticed me as I was two feet in front of him. "You ready?" He asked me. "Yeah. Let's go to this breakfast café I know."

"Okay," He said as he started walking. "You lead the way." I did as he said. The breakfast café was only about a minute away from us. We barely said a word on the way until we were walking into the small, pale building.

There was a quiet chiming as the door shut behind us and I motioned for Freddie to follow me to a small table in the corner. Immediately, one of the only servers in the café came over and set down our menus. "Thank you." Freddie said to the man.

Everyone else in the Café's eyes were trained on the single television in the place, turned onto the local morning news.

He opened it and looked it over. I let it sit there. He had a troubling look on his face. "I can't decide."

I slouched back and put my hands behind my head. "It's not that hard of a decision."

He cocked an eyebrow and asked, "What are you getting?"

I took a deep breath and said, "Three plates of bacon, two pancakes, a pound of French toast, a milkshake, four sausages, and a waffle." Freddie stared at me open mouthed. He managed to close it and say, "No."

"Why not?" I asked in frustration as I threw up my hands. "I'm not made of money, Sam." It made me mad and I don't know why I said it but I did. "I bet you would buy Carly all of that." Freddie just sighed and said my name like he always does when I do something crazy. "Sam, it's not like that. It's just too expensive. I wouldn't get it for her."

Some part of me believed him. I didn't have much time to think when the waiter came over. "What can I get you two kids this morning?" Freddie and I looked at each other and he spoke first. "We'll each have a plate of pancakes. Thanks." Freddie told him.

I shot him a glare and he added, "And give her an extra plate or two of bacon, she likes them medium well and a vanilla milkshake." The waiter nodded and smiled as he took away the menus.

I gave him a knowing smile. "Mama can't go without her bacon." He smiled back and chuckled just like he did when he was thinking we should kiss.

"Where are we going after this?" He asked me. I whisked my tongue around in my mouth.

"I don't know. To go steal a car?"

Freddie bit his lip and said, "I was thinking we could go borrow my mother's car."

I was utterly shocked. Mama's little boy going to "borrow" her car. I didn't think he had it in him. "Really?" I asked.

He didn't have time to answer. The newscaster on the television was speaking. "_This just in. Two teenagers have gone missing from the popular web show 'Icarly'." _Freddie and I's mouth dropped open at the same time. We didn't speak but continued to watch the screen.

It was showing a picture of our faces as the newscaster said. "_Their names are Samantha Puckett and Fredward Benson. If anyone catches these runaways and turns them in they will get a reward. We go to Fredward's mother live now." _

The entire café was silent except for the frantic screaming of Freddork's crazy mother as every pair of eyes in the worn down building was staring at the two of us.

**A/N: I'm sorry this took sooooo long lol. School started and I was busy with work and I had tons of homework, but I'm excited that I can get this up here. I hope you enjoyed it and it was worth the wait. Please review!**


	3. Texas it is

**Freddie's POV**

I should have known my mom would be frantic and freaking out right now. I slowly looked over to the blonde across from me and before much of anything happened people were running over to the two of us, trying to corner us in.

Sam stayed calm though and tugged on my hand while whispering, "Come on."

"To where?" I asked her desperately, "They're guarding the doors."

A man made an unsuccessful plunge at us. I retaliated back and Sam grabbed me by the hand and, to my utter amazement, ran right through the window and shattered the glass into a million pieces pulling me behind her.

We both managed to get out unharmed and were now outside the café, but there was a stampede of greedy people timidly jumping out of the window behind us, while others looked on in amazement at how brave the girl pulling me along really was.

Sam was running like the wind, and I was trying not to be dragged along the ground, as my hand was still being held tightly in hers. I ran to be by her side with a big grin on my face. "That was amazing! I didn't know you could do that."

She flashed me a short grin in return and then shrugged, "Years of practice."

I couldn't stop smiling. This was such a rush; I had never felt like this before. And here I was running for my life, or at least running from the life I wanted to escape. "Where are we going?" I shouted over the rushing wind and the angry mob growing angrier behind me.

Sam replied, "Let's just lose them first!" I nodded. I could hear them chanting behind us.

"Come on, we won't hurt you!"

"Your mommy's worried, Fredward!"

"Don't you want to go home to Carly?"

I gasped. "Ignore, it Freddie. They just want their money bags. Your mother must be giving away a fortune." Sam told me as we came to the street. The mob was still hot on our trail. "Which way?" I asked her, gasping for breath.

Without answering me she led me down the street into a motorcycle lot. She ran to a big, red motorcycle and said, "We're in luck. Some idiot left the key in the ignition. Go ahead. Drive." And with that, Sam hopped onto the pillion seat.

I shook my head. "No, no, no." I started to panic. What was I going to do? This was the only way to escape the approaching mob. They were yards away from us now.

"Come on!" Sam yelled, visibly impatient. "You either jump on here and drive, and we can run away just like we planned, or you can stand there and go back to your mother and your precious Carly while I get the heck out of here."

I had no more time to think, they would have me tackled in a matter of seconds. So without much thought on my part, I jumped into the driver's seat, revved the gas, and drove out of the parking lot. I heard angry cries of "Chiz" behind me as I stared, zombie-like ahead of me at the empty road.

Sam gleefully cried "Waa-hoo" and gave me a quick hug by wrapping her arms around my neck as the street got quieter and quieter. "Wasn't that amazing? What a rush." I could see her curls blowing in the wind in the side-view mirror.

"Sam, we just stole a motorcycle." I told her as if trying to let the truth sink in for me. "So? Don't worry, soon you'll be able to steal motorcycles and feel nothing at all." I ignored her.

"We almost got caught," I went on.

"Yeah, almost." She said off-handedly again. I shook my head violently as I gripped the handlebars tighter. "I think we lost them," She continued.

I turned down another street, one that seemed to be leading out of the town. I wanted to just collapse and take it all in, but I knew if I stopped they would catch up to us. "Okay, so here's…" Sam started to say when suddenly AM's "Running Away" started blasting from somewhere in Sam's pocket.

"Oh chiz! I got a call." Sam cried pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. That's funny, isn't that the song that was playing on the night we kissed? I looked back and saw she had a look of horror on her face as she managed to breath, quietly, "It's Carly."

She began to put it back into her pocket when I said, "Wait no! Answer it."

"No! Are you crazy? She's going to turn us in." Sam replied as if it were obvious. "I'm letting it go to voicemail."

I waited patiently until the voicemail was ready, and Sam put it on speaker phone.

The message started screaming. "OH MY GOSH! SAM WHERE ARE YOU? I've looked everywhere! I tried calling your house yesterday, but nobody picked up. I got so scared, it's not like you. Then Mrs. Benson called and asked where Freddie was and I told her he went home. But Guess what? He never showed up! Now you're both missing!"

You could hear the screams through Carly's desperate sobs. And yet, it was getting harder and harder to hear what she was saying with every word as she broke down on the phone.

"Do you know where he is? Is he with you? Why did you guys leave me? Mrs. Benson and I called the police and they're going to come get you, don't worry. PLEASE CALL ME BACK!! I'm…all…alone…," and with that, the voicemail ended.

"Wow she sounds really depressed." I said in shock. I felt horrible for doing this to her.

But then again, in a way, I was actually mad at her. She had made me feel like this before, a lot actually. Sure, she misses me now, how about those ten thousand times she rejected me?

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Carly. It wasn't your fault I left. It was just something I had to do," Sam started talking to herself as if Carly was right there next to her. "I'll see you again…one day." She continued, trying to convince herself.

"Of course you will Sam. We're going to go back one day." I told her, trying to comfort her. She merely shook her head and let her curls fly everywhere. "You don't understand," she told me a bit quieter than her normal voice and I could sense some discomfort in it.

"I can't go back, she's there." She said as her voice drifted off. I was so confused, I just asked "Who?"

She completely ignored what I had said and instead told me "Turn right." I shrugged it off and complied. She led me down a long dirt road. "Where does this road lead?" I asked her.

"Nowhere. That's why we're going that way."

That seemed like a good enough reason for me. With every yard you could see the highway grow smaller and smaller.

Sam wasn't speaking much, but she did put her arms around my waist to steady herself on the bike more. I didn't mind.

Eventually, Sam spoke, "Stop." I did as she instructed and looked around. There were trees as far as the eye could see on one side. "Here?" I asked her skeptically. It wasn't like where we were yesterday.

"Yeah, I'm hungry."

Sam jumped off the back of the bike and began striding towards the woods. I put it in park and quickly followed her footsteps. "Oh yeah, we never did get to eat breakfast," I remembered.

"Yeah, do you know how hard it is for me to go without eating?" She said as she desperately looked over at me.

"Of course I do," I assured her. She looked pleased and continued, "But it was worth it." She skipped a little ahead and then turned around and smiled. "I haven't done anything that crazy since I met you and Carly. It was fun."

I was glad she was happy, and I had to admit it was kind of fun, besides committing a felony. "Yeah, it was alright," I said, passing her up. "But we're going to return the bike eventually. "

Sam ran to catch up with me and half-heartedly replied, "You're no fun." That was all she mentioned of it though, so I assumed I had won.

"Okay, let's look through the bushes for some berries or something," she instructed me as she pointed in the direction where all the bushes were.

I did not think that would be very fun and asked, "What? Don't you have any more food in your bag?"

"Yeah, but I want to save it. I don't have a lifetime's supply in there." She told me.

"Well," I tried to reason with her as I shrugged with my hands, "We could just go grocery shopping."

Sam threw her head up and laughed as we continued to search for berries anyway. "Freddork, we just ran away. I think we should avoid public places for awhile."

I let out a little groan, but hopefully asked, "Tomorrow?"

She seemed amused and smiled, "Sure, if we run into a store."

"Good," I exclaimed, quite relieved. Sam moved over to a very colorful bush and as I got closer I saw that the reason was it was covered in the bluest blueberries you had ever seen. She stopped right in front of it, put her hands on her hips, and cried, "Jackpot!" triumphantly.

I ran over to the bush and started grabbing them off the branches. Suddenly, I realized maybe this isn't the best idea. "Wait," I said as I stopped picking just as Sam started. "How do you know these aren't poisonous?"

Sam talked as if she was explaining how to do something to a two year old, "Freddie, they're blueberries. You buy these at the store," as she popped one into her mouth. I nodded and popped one into my mouth too.

Sam started grabbing handfuls and putting them into a pocket in her bag. She gestured for me to do the same and I did. Soon her bag was full of berries and we got up and started walking out of the woods.

We saw three rabbits bounce on by us as we got close to the dirt road. Sam somehow skipped in front of me and suggested, "Let's go on over to the bike."

I smirked, "You want to admire it, don't you?"

"Of course I do." Sam said as she plopped down on the grass, grabbed some blueberries from the bag and started eating them as she stared dreamily at the bike in front of her.

**Sam's POV**

The Harley-Davidson in front of me was purely beautiful. I started to think about everywhere we could go with this masterpiece.

We might even make it to….Uncle CJ. Well, it was worth a try. I turned to look at Freddie and saw he was sprayed casually across the ground, trying to catch blueberries in his mouth. He kept missing his mouth and got hit in the eye once when I started talking to the boy.

"Hey Freddie," I called him, snapping him out of his trance. "Huh?" he asked.

"What would you say if we started making our way to Texas?" He looked like he always does when thinking about something intensely, as he pondered my question.

"Texas is really far, Sam," He finally uttered. I knew that of course. I had considered going there for a long time. My uncle was my mother's brother, but he had always been supportive of me. I hadn't seen him in three years, though. He sort of lost touch with my mother.

"I know, but my Uncle is there. He might be able to help us." I hoped he would be reasonable with me here.

"Well you want an adventure, don't you?" I asked him cocking an eyebrow. He looked at me with a straight face and I stared at him until his thin mouth line gradually turned into a smile, until finally with a laugh he said, "Yeah, what else are we going to do out here anyway?"

"Great. It's a plan. Sure is nice to have some direction to go huh?" I asked him.

His face suddenly got perplexed. "Yeah…..direction…. Hey Sam, how are we going to know how to get there?"

I shrugged. "We just keep going southwest, how hard can it be? There will be signs and stuff."

He laughed at me. "Okay, I guess that's what we'll do for now."

I leaned back and propped myself up using my hands, while Benson sat Indian-style beside me. I felt a small raindrop hit my head and looked up at the sky. There were a few dark rainclouds forming in the sky and eclipsing the sun.

The clouds continued to unload on us, and I turned to the boy next to me and spoke with a reminiscent air that surprised me, "I'm going to miss the Seattle rain."

Freddie looked up too and heaved a deep sigh, "I never thought I'd agree with that statement." Remembering something funny, he paused for laughter before going on. "Do you remember that one time last year where it rained for a week straight?"

"Of course I do!" I practically screamed, overcome with the memory. "We were all at Carly's apartment, and you were so scared you ran behind her and screamed 'Carly, save me!'" I said the last part in a high pitched girly voice.

He scoffed. "I did not say it like that!" He exclaimed defensively, in a deeper voice than normal. "Oh, you so did." I told him and then punched him on the arm, while saying "And I had to beat you up like this."

He flinched a little. "Yeah, well I've gotten tougher." He stuck out his chest a bit. I rolled my eyes at him. "Maybe."

"Yeah, see, I…" he was cut off by the now heavy wind blowing a flyer into his face. He stopped in mid-sentence and I couldn't stop laughing at his misfortune. Freddie simply took it from his face with a secret smile playing on his lips and began reading it.

"What does it say?" I asked him curiously.

He read what it said on the flyer to me. "The Gresham City Club. 'Let's party tonight'. Join us for fun at the Gresham City Club. Activities include dancing, beverages, dancing, karaoke, dancing, tons of fun, and dancing! Open every Friday and Saturday night! Come and join us at 3405 Party Road."

"Huh. Just a club." He finished and was about to toss the flyer behind his shoulder when I grabbed his wrist and stopped him.

"No, wait. This could be fun." I said, releasing him from my grip and taking the flyer from his clenched hands. He put his arms back down as I scanned my eyes over the flyer. "I say we go," I announced as if making it final.

Freddie shook his head, "I don't know. That place is for people in their twenties. They might not even let us in."

"Oh Freddie," I smiled and winked at him. "You just got to know how to talk to them." He seemed confused, and twisted up his face to match the confusion. I let a smile creep on my lips and deviously said, "I know how to play with a guy's mind." I proceeded to bat my eyelashes.

Freddie's eyes flashed open in horror and he hid his face, but it was too late, his face was already as red as a tomato. "Well, uh, okay if we pass it."

I looked back ahead of me at the road and offhandedly mentioned, "Oh we will, it's on the way." I could somehow feel Freddie's excitement beside me as he looked down the road that would lead us away from here.

**A/N: Okay, I hope you liked this one. Thanks for all the nice reviews so far! I wanna hear if you liked this chapter so keep 'em coming :) Thanks.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Icarly**


	4. Shopping with Sam Puckett

**A/N: Hello! I'm alive. I am sorry about the loooong wait for this chapter but my laptop had to be taken away to be fixed and I had almost finished this chapter so I thought, "why not just wait the three weeks?" However, it happened that my hard drive had to be erased and that meant everything saved on my computer, including this chapter, went bye-bye. But I have finally got over that annoyance and worked myself up to start the chapter again so here it is.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Icarly, Seddie would be canon by now.**

**Sam's POV**

I let my body fall casually against the bike resting on the road. Freddie finished gathering up his things and turned to me, giving me a slight smile. "Ready to go?" He asked me, lifting one eyebrow. I nodded devilishly as I thought of my plan that I was going to put into action today.

I watched as Freddie mounted the bike as if he suddenly rode a Harley every day. He revved the engine and we were off, flying down the highway at a grand speed of fifty miles an hour. I let out a sigh, "Can you drive faster, Freddork?"

"Sorry if I'm trying to keep us alive for as long as possible, Puckett." What, going seventy will automatically get us killed? I casually laid on the question as we drove out of the small town and onto the highway, "If you just let me drive Harley, I'll show you what real living is."

Freddie pretended he didn't hear the suggestion I just made. However, you could feel the tension in the air as the dork made a sharp right turn suddenly. "You named the bike?" he offered, breaking the temporary silence that hung in the air.

Oh well, I'll try again later. "Yeah," I confirmed. "It makes the big guy seem more real. My very own bike," I said dreamily as I stared off into the sun that was being partially obscured by the clouds. Freddie broke my daydream and said, "Sam, we're not keeping…Harley. If you name it you will only get more attached to it." That's what you think. "Right, of course. Whatever you say, Freddie," I told him reassuringly.

We had been travelling for about two hours when we ran into a local mini-mart about fifty miles north of Gresham. Not wanting Freddork to pass it up I yelled, "Stop!!!" The boy stepped on the breaks so fast he managed to do a spin off onto the side of the road about ten feet behind the mini-mart. He was clearly startled.

"Whoa, next time try not to give me a heart attack, Sam."

I blew him off. "Yeah, yeah. Mama sensed food and wa –la," I danced in front of the store and threw my hands toward it like I was show casing it, "here it is." Freddie seemed to calm down a bit and I could see a smile begin to play on his lips. "You're crazy," he said in a teasing way as he made his way into the store. I swiftly followed with a grin of my own.

The mini-mart was precisely that, very mini. The place looked utterly deserted except for a young girl about mine and Fredward's age at the cash register chewing gum and flipping through a magazine. I immediately spotted the junk food section and made my way toward it with Freddie struggling to keep up.

I looked back at the boy trailing me, "Freddork! Get a cart!" Freddie complied and I made my way to the fat cakes and started piling as many into my arms as I could. This was practically a sport. Freddie got back with the cart very speedy.

I laughed and dumped out my entire armful of fat cakes (about 30) when Freddie started talking to me. "Isn't that kind of a lot Sam?" He reached his hand out to grab my wrist before I could grab any more. My insides tingled a bit to the touch of his hand but I just shook the feeling off, now was not the time for this.

I merely shrugged. "It can fit." I began to put more in when Freddie interjected again, "We should be getting vegetables."

Aah Freddie, always the mama's boy. "Your mommy isn't here, Benson. Live a little."

But, dorkboy was reluctant. "Come on Sam," he reasoned with me. "Some are really helpful for your body and stuff. They can really help us out on our adventure." His eyes were pleading with me to listen to him.

I gave him a questioning look. "How do you know?"

_15 minutes later…._

"This is a _carrot," _Freddie explained to me as if he were teaching a kindergartner their colors. I had to admit though; these _vegetable _things were piquing my curiosity. This was about the tenth one Freddie had tried to explain the significance of to me. "And how will it help me?" I proposed.

Freddie nodded knowingly and held the carrot directly in front of me as he explained, "My mom always told me that they helped you see better, so if we eat them we can be more alert to danger when it's near. It could mean the difference between whether we get caught or whether we don't."

Oh the possibilities. I began to smirk and Freddie excitedly asked, "So what do you think?" I turned to face him more directly towards him and uttered, "I think this is going to work out." Freddie seemed pleased with my answer and added the carrots to the accumulating pile of vegetables in the cart.

When he looked up from placing it he met my puppy dog eyes. "You want some more fat cakes now, don't you?" he asked me, already knowing what was on my mind. "Yes," I informed him, scurrying off to my favorite aisle as I called back behind me, "And you can't stop me."

To my slight surprise, he didn't try. In a matter of seconds Freddie was by my side saying, "Actually, that's a good idea. My mom never lets me have anything that isn't healthy for me or doesn't help prevent ticks." He was very plainly annoyed.

"Alright, then. I'm not here to be your mother," I comforted him. "Plus mama just really wants her fat cakes," I added as an afterthought in my usual tone.

"Of course you do." I heard Freddie say as he began to help me put numbers of them into the cart. However, I think he thought I was overdoing it because he caught my hand with the fat cake still in it and gave me a warning glance as he moved it back to the shelf.

"I think we're done here," he informed me as if it weren't a thought but a demand. The only reason I agreed was because we were already pushing the limit of food my bag of wonders could hold. We made our way over to the cash register where the teenage girl was still working and she quickly put the magazine under the counter at the sight of us.

"Hello, would you like me to ring up those items for you?" She offered as if it weren't already obvious.

"Sure," Freddie and I said simultaneously. The girl slowly began to ring up one item after the other: pineapples, carrots, fat cakes, cookies. As she rang up the food she began studying me and Freddie more and more closely as she continued chewing her gum.

I was getting anxious to get out of there when she said, "Hey, aren't you guys those missing kids from Icarly? Sam and Freddie?"

Oh gosh. Please Freddie, please, lie well. To my amazement he replied easily, "No no. We actually get that all the time. We're just two kids from downtown." He put his hands in his pockets and turned to me, "Right, Jennette?" Smooth.

I mentally shook off how impressed I was and regained my countenance, "Um yeah. That's right. Now if you would excuse Nathan and I we have to go back home or our whole neighborhood is going to think we got mauled by bears or something.

"Yep, so," Freddie took the groceries. "We're just gonna," I added as I pointed both index fingers to the door. Freddie jogged to the door and opened it for me as I slyly left, with him shutting the door firmly behind me after he travelled out himself. Freddie and I ran onto the bike and were off.

Freddie was really speeding up as I grabbed the groceries he handed me, popped a fat cake in my mouth, and tried shoving the rest of the groceries into my backpack.

"Be careful you don't fall off the bike, Sam," Freddie warned me, genuinely concerned. I meant to say "I'm not stupid, I know how to stay on a bike," but it came out more like "Nom wan nom blah mu."

"What?" he asked. I just shook my head and wrapped my arms around him so that I could properly stick a carrot in his mouth. After I swallowed I just said, "Now you can't talk either," and tapped him on the nose. "Well, you know, carrots are good for your eyes anyway. So don't crash. I know I wouldn't." Freddie just grunted in response.

I never would have thought running away with Freddie would be so much fun. But it was so easy to laugh with him as we passed through town after town of people gawking at how cool we looked on Harley. But eventually Freddie asked me the inevitable. "Hey, Sam…you never told me why you decided to run away."

I was taken aback all the same. "Well, it's not that important." I said, hoping to steer him away from this conversation. "But, I just want you to know that whatever it is, it's ok. You can tell me. I won't tell anyone." He then realized the stupidity of the comment and added with a laugh, "Not like there is anyone left to tell." His pace was slowing at this point.

I laughed with him, "Are you trying to be comforting, dork?" Freddie got a little scared and supposed, "Well…yeah."

I smiled even though he couldn't see me. "Well thanks," The sun was setting now, and we were getting close to The Gresham City Club. I was getting excited, because I brought something for just the equation. "Hey, that club is here is around here isn't in it?" Freddie asked me, as if he could read my mind. "Yeah," I nodded enthusiastically, "We have to go."

Freddie sighed, "This will most likely end badly."

"Oh well. Pull over here."

Freddie brought the bike to a halt on the side of the road. However, I was caught off guard and slammed to the ground, landing on my side.

The fall wasn't that bad, it really wasn't. It's just that I had hit exactly where my old bruises my mother had given me were. As a result, my sides burned like a thousand fire arrows had just been shot through them. "Sam!"

Freddie came running over to me, "Sam are you ok? You look like you hurt a lot."

I couldn't let anyone see me like this, especially not Freddie. I got up as I said, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a scratch," I stumbled as I regained my balance and Freddie stood behind me ready to catch me, just in case.

"Well," I said changing the subject. "It's almost time. I think I'm going to go get ready."

"Right. Me too," Freddie said, still a bit concerned.

"You don't have anything to get ready." I casually reminded him.

"Oh right," he spoke, scratching the back of his head.

I laughed and muttered, "Boys," as I went to get changed. In my bag I found the locket I had picked up yesterday, and studied it for a moment. I figured it wouldn't harm anyone if I wore it, so I added it to my outfit. I wore a black mini skirt and red halter top that had sequins along the sides. I somehow managed to retrieve flip flops from my backpack too, which I had no idea I even put in there.

The only problem was that you could slightly see my bruises where my shirt wasn't covering me up, because my outfit was mildly revealing. After a moment of hesitation and quick thinking I decided against my better judgment and just wore the outfit. Hey, It would be dark anyway.

I made my way back to Freddie who was whistling and looking around the area, waiting for me patiently. I called out to him, "You ready to go Freddo?"

He turned, took one look at me and his jaw dropped.

"Whoa."

**A/N: Thank you for reading, and waiting. The next couple chapters are where things are going to start to pick up hopefully, especially the next one (I'm really excited to write that!) So thanks to all who have reviewed so far and will in the future *wink wink***


	5. Dance Hall Drug

**Disclaimer: I do not own Icarly or any of the songs mentioned in this chapter.**

**Freddie's POV**

Sam, at that moment, was one of the most beautiful things I had seen in my entire life. Her loose curls slung around her body so gracefully she almost looked like an angel. I had never seen Sam look so girly in the entire time I had known her.

And yet, something just seemed off about her. She looked at me with the same smile she always gave me as I stood there, mouth agape, unable to remove my eyes from her slender form, but her arms were curled tightly around her waist, as if there were something there she was hiding from me.

She kept her pose as she began swiftly coming over to me and began frantically waving her hand in front of my face. "Fredward," she started, "What? You've never seen a girl before?" She looked at me with annoyed eyes, but underneath there was a hint of shyness.

I shook my disbelief away. This was just Sam, as tough as she'd ever been. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me," I apologized to her.

She looked at me with an odd expression before shortly laughing it off. "Whatever, Freddork. Now, come on! We're going to be late for the part-ay if you don't hurry up," she told me, her voice gaining excitement with every syllable. I merely nodded in agreement as she ran towards the club, now in visible range, her arms still secured tightly around her waist.

The run was short, yet it still managed to get my blood pumping, a feeling I was learning to love. Sam, who was ahead of me the whole way, arrived at our destination in a matter of minutes. There were blinding lights flashing everywhere, distorting reality's true colors. On top of that, the entrance was packed, and faint music could be heard from coming inside.

Numerous times, I saw young adults be turned from the door, not able to get in, and with every person my hopes of getting in grew dimmer. Well, if you could call them hopes. It was more like I was along for the ride that Sam was "driving" here.

But her confidence did not waiver. She laughed at the misfortune of the turned away people and motioned for me to follow her, finally cautiously letting down her arms. I followed her thoughtlessly, and we pushed through the mob of the line in front of the club. There were angry shouts, but for the most part we were paid no mind. Near the front, I almost was hit with a punch from a man whose beer I practically knocked out of his hands.

But we had successfully managed to make it, and I observed Sam at the front giggling her way into the heart of the guy with the checklist. "And it's my first time in the city, and I just wanted to see all the sights, you know?" Sam said in a completely unSam-like way. I had to stop my jaw from dropping to the floor again. The man was looking Sam up and down, in some ways I didn't like, as if to be considering her for entrance.

"You won't tell my boss if I do, will you?" the big man asked, in a frightening voice. Sam's smile never faded, and if she hadn't made eye contact with me for half a second to roll her eyes, I would have believed her act just as easily as the bouncer was. "No, you big silly, I would never dream of that," she replied all the same. This guy was so dim-witted. But he gave her the hand motion to go in, and said, "Go ahead, girly."

"Thank you, so much!" Sam gushed, and she skipped over to the door. I laughed at her mastermind plot in my head and made my way to pursue her, until the bouncer stopped me at the door. "Name," he said mechanically. I panicked and started thinking of some excuse, "Uh..."

Luckily, Sam had not gone in yet and came back out to the pair of us, acting very level-headed. "Oh, I'm sorry, Ted. I forgot to tell you. This is Freddie, he's my date." Ted's eyes bounced back and forth between the pair of us, Sam smiling hopefully, and me sweating bullets. After what felt like an eternity, Ted just shrugged and I was allowed passage.

No one from the outside would have ever guessed that the inside of the club could possibly be as gigantic as it was. But it was one of the largest places I have ever been. The lights were even more blinding, the crowd even more dense. It was easy to notice the focal point of the whole place was the fluorescent dance floor in the center of the building, complete with a disco ball overhead.

Sam was enjoying the scenery as she led me over to the food table. "Thanks!" I called to her over the crowd. She heard my voice and gave me a nod, before pulling me to the side so we could talk. "Is this not the most happening place on the west coast or what?" She shouted happily to me, like she was a kid in a candy shop.

I was happy for her enthusiasm and had to admit that it was contagious and getting to me too. "This is," I confessed to her and got a little 'I told you so' smile in return. "Oh and by the way, I'm you date?" I teased her jutting my face toward her as I said it. She recoiled and waved it off, "Oh you know I had to do it. I wasn't going to party by myself."

"Well, good. I wasn't going to permit you," I admitted to her.

Her face twisted up playfully as she reminded me, "You don't tell me what to do, Benson."

Of course, I should have known better. "No, I don't. But I want to be here anyway, so it works out."

"Really?" Sam asked for reassurance, leading us back over to the mountains of food by the buffet table.

"Of course." I assured her. She began piling heaps of steak onto her plate, muttering something like "It feels so good to be able to have _real_ food again." She proceeded to stack on every single food dish Gresham City Club had to offer onto her platter, while I picked at the healthier selections here and there, hoping Sam would catch on. She didn't. After Sam was finally done with the buffet table, we walked to one of the high round tables set up and sat down, opposite each other.

Sam began to sip her Wahoo Punch as we were rewarded with the karaoke songs some of the other attendees were singing on the stage. Well, the vocals were honestly not the best quality, because the reality was half the singers were severely drunk. But, Sam wasn't paying as much attention as me.

"This place is still so awesome," she explained as she put down her Wahoo Punch. "You could beat someone up in here and either no one would notice or no one would be care."

"Yeah there is way too much going on for anyone to care about an under aged delinquent."

My play at an insult didn't appear to bug her in the slightest; she was too busy taking in everything and watching the circle of people gathered around one break dancer dancing to Katy Perry's "Waking up in Vegas."

"You know," she started after awhile, "I remember the very first time I heard this song."

"Ooh, story time?" I questioned her, mildly intrigued.

"Sure," she answered with a smirk. "Well I was coming over from school, going to Carly's naturally, when suddenly I came across this tiny old guy, jamming to this song. I was bewildered and went up to him and said, 'Hey Grandpa. Learning to dance for the dorkfestival?'"

I could only imagine the poor old guy's face when confronted with an amused Sam, and rolled my eyes, though not entirely annoyed.

She continued, "His face was priceless. He bribed me with five steaks if I didn't tell his wife, but I needed to pry them away from his dog. So, in the end I wrestled with his pooch and got the steaks, but my hair was all messed up and my clothes a little torn. When I finally got to Carly's I saw you."

Wow, this was starting to sound familiar.

"You asked what happened and I told you I got mauled by a bear, and muttered something about crazy things happening in Vegas." She finished her story with a laugh at my face as the truth dawned on me. I was staring open-mouthed into her eyes in disbelief.

"I was going to Vegas that weekend with my mother," I remarked in an accusing tone.

"Ha-ha, I knew that then," She said before looking around the club. Grown men were going around and asking young ladies onto the dance floor. I was revolted at the sight. "Hey, I'm going to go to the Ladies Room, can you handle being by yourself for two minutes, or are you going to make everyone evacuate the premises?" Sam joked as she got up and left her Wahoo punch and me behind before I was able to protest.

I sighed and turned my chair around out of boredom and watched eager people enter the club. They kept increasing by the dozen; maybe the bouncer was getting drunk and just not caring who he let in any longer. The newcomers were very diverse and varied, but they all had one thing in common. They each had another person of the opposite sex with them, and only them. It seemed like the couples were increasing and the singles decreasing with every passing minute.

And yet here I was with Sam. Would she count this as a date? No, definitely not. Would I count this as a date? Never. Did I wish this was a date? No, I don't think so. I laid my head back and closed my eyes, blocking out any thought that I did not want to have.

It was a failed attempt to get any rest, as the music was still shattering at a deafening volume. Something could have been going on two feet behind my head and I would have never noticed. But, my attempt did not go on long. In one minute, Sam was back at my side, poking me hard in the ribs. I shot up right away and she resumed her seat across from me and took a sip of her Wahoo Punch.

Sam's eyes widened as soon as the liquid touched her mouth and she let out a low but intense, "Whoa."

"What?" I questioned her.

"Nothing," she assured me shaking her head and then putting two fingers to her temple, "It just tastes kinda funny. That's all."

Sam continued to drink the Wahoo Punch and I attempted to talk to her. "So, how long until we reach Texas?"

Sam started dancing a little in her chair as she replied, "I'm not sure. One week, two weeks, three."

Sam looked around frantically, and I joked with her, "Okay, I'll try to calculate the fastest route for us to go; you can just focus on the survival part."

Sam giggled, and I mean a real giggle, as she replied, "Oh Freddie, you're so funny." I cocked an eyebrow which changed into a real confused look as Sam sat there and giggled.

It only grew worse from there. As the minutes passed by her remarks continued to get more and more outrageous, especially for her. "This glass is so sparkly," Sam said as she sipped more Wahoo Punch.

"You told me that four times already."

"Ha-ha. Hey look a flying pig!" Sam pointed out the window, and I looked, stupidly. There was no flying pig, but there was a now very puppy-eyed Sam in front of me in the few seconds it took her to get up and travel to my side of the table. "Come dance with me," the very unlike Sam Sam demanded.

I could only muster an "Oh well, I…guess, whoa!" before I felt my body being moved very sharply and with much strength from my seat and out onto the dance floor by Sam. I bumped into more people and Sam was stumbling worse than ever, almost as if she was…. Oh my gosh. "Sam," I shouted at her and she turned to me, happy she had found the source of her name. "Someone must have spiked your drink when I wasn't looking. You're drunk!"

Her face flashed confusion for a second before saying, "Drunk? I don care if I this drunk, you say I am, just dance with me." I was forcefully pulled into her but started dancing with her regardless. Sam was actually a pretty good dancer, even better than her twin Melanie (who happened to be sober also). She started dancing wildly to the song, which was picking up tempo as it went along, the blinding lights making her appear in slow motion. I tried to mimic her movements, but ultimately failed. That's not to say Sam didn't try to help, because she was moving my body almost as much as hers.

But it seemed like too soon the song was over, and I was panting; but Sam was as lively as ever. "When can we go again?" Sam asked me.

That question was answered for me when a new song began playing and Sam shouted "WOOOO!!!!" and began to forcefully make me dance with her yet again. I had just gotten into it again when a man who appeared to be about twenty-three came up to us and tapped me on the soldier. "May I cut in?" he asked in a profound, husky voice.

I started, "Ummm no," but it was too late. The man already had Sam and she didn't care, as long as someone would be there to satisfy her unexpected, never-ending, bout of energy. She let out a "Hey, show me what you can do," and I was forced back into the crowd crying "Sam, come on! Let's go back to Harley," but it was no use, she couldn't hear me anymore.

Defeated, I went back down to our table in hopes she would return there when she came back to her senses. I angrily sat down and dumped her remaining Wahoo Punch on the floor in disgust. I couldn't believe this. Why was she being so stupid? Granted, she was drunk, but this was Sam. She was supposed to be the eternally tough girl who beat up anyone she felt threatened by, not be pushed around by some creeper because she was drunk.

"Sam, you're so stupid," I sighed, my head in my hands, almost as if she was right there standing next to me, able to hear my words. But my thought process was abruptly cut off when I heard, "And now singing for the first time here at Gresham City Club, we have Sam Puckett with 'Dance Hall Drug'," over the loud speaker.

I could hardly believe my ears. A drunken Sam was going to sing to a whole club. I repositioned myself so that I could see the stage better. Sure enough, Sam wobbled her way to a microphone with the jerk man from before. There were a few whispers of, "Hey, that Sam Puckett girl is from that one web show isn't she?" and as a result Sam got more of an audience than the other people.

But then the song began. "_Grown up, she just turned sixteen," _Sam sung in a surprisingly beautiful voice. The man next to her was eyeing her inappropriately as she obliviously made extreme and dance movements unnecessarily to the song.

"_Stuck in the moment, dead at the scene. And it's on tonight; this is the life that you wanted, right?" _Sam continued. More of a crowd had gathered around her. The words she sung were almost about her life. It continued on and she seemed almost sober, yet not quite. And she was completely aware of the words of the song somehow.

It got to the chorus of the song and she closed her eyes and sang as she wobbled, "_Yeah do you, do you want to lose it all? Cause this is more than just a dance hall drug, you can't wait to fall in love_."

I couldn't take it anymore. I angrily pushed myself off from the table and swiftly made my way to the front of the stage. I was going to take her back to Harley, whether she liked it or not.

My travel to the front of the stage was not easy. I had to dodge flying glass bottles and angry people who just did not want to get out of the way. The whole time Sam's voice, more angelic than I ever imagined continued on, "_Now you're holding hands, but he's got other plans, Tick-tock the clock is turning red."_

I had made it within twenty feet of the stage now, and my heartbeat picked up with every second from anxiety. Small drops of sweat began to form on my forehead and reality kept seeming more and more like a dream. "_Cause when the push comes to the shove, It's just a dance hall drug." _And on those words I stumbled on the stage that had seemed like my destination for years instead of minutes.

I could see Sam more clearly now and I nearly tripped when I ran towards her, trying to call her, "Sam!" while she went on with what would be the final words she sang, "_Just wait love, show em'"._

Suddenly I saw the man take one glance at me, and giving me a smug smile he grabbed the waist of the barely cautious Sam and began pulling her closer to him, whereas the microphone dropped out of her hand in alarm. My eyes widened and I began panicking.

The music never ceased blaring in the background and I could hear the actual track singing the words, "_Don't_ _it feel like,"_The boy band's voices so much different than her own. The man's lips grew closer and closer to Sam's, but she was just staring blankly off into the distance, unable to move, unable to think. "_Something's not right_", the song continued, and I was standing up next to them, with only one plan in my mind.

"_In his kiss tonight," _on the word kiss the man and Sam's lips locked and it caused me a fury I had never felt in a long time. But I made sure the kiss only lasted for a second because I pulled the man away from his position and punched him hard in the face. He held his face in pain and fell to the ground, letting out silent sobs. I stole one quick glance at the squirming body on the ground before turning to Sam who now seemed to be somewhat aware of the situation and had her fist clenched tightly in the air.

"Lemme at em'!" She pleaded with me, recovering a smidge of her true personality. But she was too weak, I wouldn't let her. We had to get out of here. I began to shake my head and say "No," but I noticed her eyes were closing and I walked closer to her. Without any more warning, the blonde headed demon collapsed into my arms, while the rest of the club danced obliviously to the end of the song.

**A/N: Well there you go! I hoped you like this one, cause I worked really hard on it :). Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks :D**


	6. Bruises

**Freddie's POV**

In the midst of everything, I never forgot my plan. Carrying Sam bridal-style in my arms I made my way through the crowd, always having to push my way through like I had to to get into this club, which kept looking like more and more of a stupid idea in the first place. Sam remained motionless the entire time and I reached the exit and used it willingly.

The difference between inside the club and the outdoors was unimaginable. It seemed like in the instant I shut the door, it was almost completely silent, and it grew more silent as I moved slowly away from the club, until I could hear the sound of crickets chirping. The blinding lights, too, soon faded into the darkness of the night.

I still felt enraged. How could someone manipulate Sam like that? How could she let him? I never once in my life thought of Sam as a vulnerable person, but tonight changed that. I didn't know what to make of it. Sam was supposed to be the experience between the two of us, but what if something happened like back at the club? I somehow had to be able to protect her.

I looked at her body that was moving only ever so slightly with her occasional breaths. I had never actually got a good chance to look at her, and I mean really look at her, because she was always moving or punching something. Maybe that's why for that short time tonight, I was hypnotized by her beauty. She wore a heart shaped locket on her neck and I was tempted to crack it open and take a look, but I decided against it. I didn't want her to slaughter me later for it.

My eyes fell onto her bare stomach, which her shirt did not quite cover. There was not much light at all, but by the moonlight I could tell that the color was off. I moved my face closer and could see that it definitely resembled the black and blue of a bruise. My breath fell a little short. No, it couldn't be.

I slowly rotated Sam a little and looked at her back. There were at least five of those same bruises consuming her backside. I grew even tenser. It must be late, and I'm imagining these things, I kept telling myself.

Somehow I had the nerve to lift up her curls and look at the back of her neck where the final bruise laid. I was a completely frustrated zombie-like person by the time we got back to Harley. It was getting late and cold, so I decided I would attempt to make a fire with the skills I learned when I used to be in the boy scouts group that my mother forced me into.

But I couldn't leave Sam just lying there. I carefully went into her bag and removed her blanket she always slept with. I made my way over to an open space and let her lie on the ground, wrapped in her blanket.

I looked around the small area that I could without leaving Sam completely. I got lucky and found some wood in a matter of minutes and a nice opening for a fire. I panicked slightly when I remembered I didn't have the materials I needed to start a fire. I went through Sam's bag again and in one of the many pockets I ended up finding a lighter. I rejoiced silently and went to work on the fire.

After I made the fire pit, I took the lighter and lit some lint under the wood and it almost instantaneously burst into flames. "Thanks mom," I said, knowing she wouldn't hear me anyway. I went and retrieved Sam and moved her to the warm fire. I situated myself against a tree and pulled Sam close enough so that she was leaning on me. For the first time since the club I heard Sam let out a small sigh of contentment and watched as her eyes slowly flickered open at last.

**Sam's POV**

I awoke to the sound of Freddie's breathing. It took me a second to remember where I was and what had happened and I remembered something about a man and a song. But the details were all a blur. I flickered my eyes open to find myself wrapped in a warm blanket, slightly in Freddie's arms. I slowly looked up at his face and saw him staring intently at me as he whispered, "Sam? Are you awake?"

"Good Morning, Benson!" I laughed at him as I played with the blanket. He seemed caught off-guard. "You seem really awake, and it's not morning, it has to be about midnight."

Some details drifted back to me when I heard the time and I replied, "Oh yeah." I sat up more and moved my hair behind my ear. Freddie just stared at me like he was waiting for me to say something. "What?" I asked him a bit rudely. His eyebrows furrowed in contemplation of my question, like he was arguing with himself deciding whether or not he should ask me about something.

"Are you still drunk?" He asked me.

"Drunk?" I repeated standing up. I wobbled around and nearly fell down, "Whoa," I said.

"You're still drunk." He answered his own question.

I shook my head in disgust. "Am not." I do not lose my cool for long. I knew that my mind could be very sharp, and that I was completely sober now. "I can walk in a straight line." I told him and demonstrated that very thing as the words escaped my mouth. When I was finished I spun towards him and did a little, "Ta – Da!"

He twisted his face up in an unconvinced way but seemed to accept that I was sober. I plopped back down into my blanket next to him and turned to face him this time rather than lean on him. He seemed really silent and tense. So, I decided to lighten the mood.

"Guess what?" I asked him.

"What?" he answered in a monotone.

"No. Guess." I said urging him on with my hands.

He looked me straight in the eye and the only sound to be heard was my stomach growling. "You're hungry," he told me, more like a statement than a guess.

I growled back at my stomach and punched it lightly. "You gave me away," I scolded it.

Freddie laughed for the first time since I regained consciousness. "Sure, you're not drunk."

"I'm really not, Freddork."

He stared into the fire for a minute before gradually turning his gaze back to meet my own. "Can I ask you something?" he tested.

I thought for a moment. Whatever he had to ask me couldn't be all that bad. It's not like he knew about….things. "Anything." I granted with a nod.

"Okay," Freddie said and let out a deep breath. "When I was bringing you back to Harley, I was watching you to make sure you were still okay, and well, I couldn't help but notice," he paused for a minute and looked at me. I moved my face in a little and cocked an eyebrow signaling him to go on. "that you had quite a few bruises along your back," I moved backward, shocked, "and uh… stomach."

No one said anything for a few seconds and I replied with a simple, "Oh." He continued to look at me waiting for some kind of additional explanation. I didn't know what to tell him though. I didn't want to just empty my soul out to him, mainly because I didn't want any pity from him.

Something inside me wanted to protect him, to hide the truth from him. I didn't know what he would think of me if he knew about my mother, about my past. So I did the only thing I could. I changed the subject.

"So, remember that time when you gave me a bag of bacon?" I tested, playing it off like we were reliving memories from years ago.

"Don't change the subject."

"Well, I just want to say that it was reeeealy good."

"Sam!" he yelled.

My light composure faded and I saw how much he wanted to know what was wrong written all over his face.

"Okay." I decided. Telling him seemed like a good way to go at this point, because after all, no matter how much neither of us wanted to admit it, at the end of the day we were best friends. "Do you remember when we first started this adventure and you asked me why I ran away, but I didn't tell you?"

His face lit up in remembrance. "Oh yeah. You tried to change the subject then too."

I shrugged, "Yeah, well these…bruises…are the reason I ran away. It's my mother's fault." My eyes drifted down to the ground, because I thought not looking at him while I told him would make this easier. "She would get drunk, and well, she was an abusive drunk. I suppose I should tell you that my father ran away when I was very little.

"He recognized my mother for what she was, a drunk, and he couldn't take it anymore. So then it was only me and her. She would just go out drinking every night and come home and beat me. But, I never told anyone but Carly.

"It's also why I have a lot of experience being on the run. I would run away all the time for the night or something. But I always came back."

I stole a glance at his face before I continued to find that he was focused intently on my story. I conveniently left out the 'and then I met you' in the next part of the story. "Then recently, I stopped running away. I would just spend the night at Carly's or something." I looked up at him with pleading eyes, "Do you understand why I can't go back now?"

Freddie sat there numb, and it took a few seconds before realization that I had asked him a question dawned across his face. "But we have to," he said, his voice shaking.

I shook my head. "No, I don't. I mean I guess you could leave me if you wanted." Freddie tried to crack a smile, but you could still hear the sadness in his voice, "I could never survive my way home without you. You have to come back with me."

I started to say something but he cut me off, "I'll convince you. Look, I can fix this. I'll turn your mother in; you can find somewhere else to live."

"No, don't do that," I asked him. "I don't want to be taken away to live with some problem kids, I can make it fine on my own. I'm a Puckett."

"But you're not like the rest of your family," Freddie consoled me.

"I'm nothing special." I put out there.

Freddie shrugged and muttered something under his breath that I couldn't hear. "And look," I went on, regaining some of my self-control and moving closer to him, "if you tell anyone about this, you're gonna be the one getting beat up." I punched him on the arm for full effect.

He winced a little and said, "Understood."

"But I bet you," Freddie proposed, "that I can get you to go back."

"Pfft. You're on. What do you want to bet?" I challenged.

Freddie thought about that for a moment. "I don't know yet. It has to be the best stakes ever, so it will take me longer to decide. It'll make it more interesting that way."

"Now you're thinking, Benson. Alright, I'll let you decide. But if you stay there in Texas with me, than I win."

"Of course." Freddie agreed.

We were both satisfied so I announced with a sigh, "Mama's tired."

"Yeah, it's been a long day," Freddie agreed with me. "I think it's time to call it a night."

I got comfortable in my big blanket and watched silently as Freddie went to retrieve the same old shabby one that he had been using the whole time, with his lips in a thin line as he looked it over and tossed it around in his hands.

He looked a little uncomfortable as he set it down next to me. "Freddie," I called him and he looked up at me. "Maybe, just for tonight, you can have my blanket." I went to move the blanket off of me and place it on him, but before I could finish he started shaking his head and his hands in front of his face, "No, no, no. You need it, you fainted today, remember? Rest up."

I nodded, "Oh yeah. What really happened there, anyway?"

"Well," Freddie readied himself for the story, "After you got drunk, we danced, but you got taken away by some guy who was way too old for you. Then, you started singing with him on stage and I went up there to try to stop you, and just take you back. But then he...he…kissed you. That's when you fainted and I brought you back here," Freddie finished, his voice trailing off.

I nodded intensely, "Oh, I vaguely remember some of that."

Freddie understood, "Yeah, you were pretty drunk."

"I'll probably have a hangover in the morning," I laughed. I smiled at him and added as an obvious afterthought, "how about we just forget about that, okay?"

"I'll definitely try," Freddie said, matching my joking tone. I collapsed on my back and looked up at the stars. They were beautiful tonight, and I knew they were the same stars that Carly and Spencer were looking up at tonight, which made me feel connected to them.

"Good night, Sam. Dream of ham." Freddie told me as he began to close his eyes and tear them away from the stars. I smiled to myself thinking of the great dreams I would have now. "Good night, Freddie. Dream of techie." I heard a slight laugh as I began to drift off to a sweet sleep.

"Wait!" I shouted and my eyes flew open. Freddie screamed and shot up into a sitting position beside me. "We didn't ankle swear!" I explained to him.

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" he stated appalled he had not remembered either.

We both got up and before we started I announced, "Here's to the bet with the unnamed stakes. If we stay in Texas, I win. If we go back to Washington, you win."

"Deal." Freddie agreed, and we went through the sacred ankle swear, both feeling much better when it was now official. "Now we can sleep." Freddie pointed out and we both got back into our blankets. We didn't chat for the rest of the night, but I felt better knowing he knew about my bruises, but I hoped he wouldn't make a big deal out of them. It had been a very exasperating day, and it wasn't long before I drifted off into sleep.

It was a pleasant sleep, because I knew he was there, and for the first time in a long time, I felt safe.


	7. Teaching Sam to Drive and a Picnic

**Freddie's POV**

I woke up around sunrise to the light breeze that was blowing through the air. I slowly opened my eyes to find Sam sprayed out across the ground, out cold. I smiled slightly to myself and went to tend to the dying fire.

I had a little trouble recalling whether or not last night was real or just a dream, because it just seemed so unreal. I stole a longer glance at Sam and could now more clearly than ever see the bruises on her body. It hurt me to think that anyone like Sam could possibly have to go through that much pain, but it now made me understand her so much more.

But I had to remind myself that she was still the same Sam she always had been, and it made me a little more at ease. I could hear the last crackle of the fire now, and after about another hour, Sam showed signs of life.

She let out a sigh and her eyes soon flickered open. She saw me and our eyes locked for a fraction of a second before she closed her eyes again and sat up with a groan. "Ow," she breathed into her blanket.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Nothing, I just have this major headache," she responded.

"I wonder why," I jokingly asked her.

She shook her head, "Oh, shut up." After a while, she finally found the energy to get up and stretched. "We have to get on the road, Benson. So hurry up."

"Yes, Princess Puckett," I told her sarcastically and made no move to get up.

She at first seemed pleased but then realized I wasn't moving and her smile soon turned into a scowl. "Fine, I will give you ten minutes, but when I get back, I expect to find you by Harley." And with that, she trotted off towards the woods with her bag.

I sighed and collected the spare debris that were left behind and put them in my pockets. The morning ritual was becoming habit by now and I found I could do it without much thought on my part.

After about ten minutes, I was found by Harley as told. A small thought about already being whipped by a girl I wasn't even dating passed through my mind when I saw her come back. She was dressed in a much more comfortable looking hoodie and jeans with her necklace still hanging from her neck. Without hesitation, she jumped into the driver's seat of Harley and called "Hop on."

"Uh, Sam," I addressed her, "you're in the wrong seat." She grinned at me. "Nope, I don't think I am."

"Sam, you're not driving." I stated firmly.

But she refused to even consider taking no for an answer. "I don't see a problem with it."

"I value my life."

Sam gave me a death stare. "Honestly, Freddie. Do you doubt my abilities as a driver?"

I automatically nodded my head once.

"Well, then you just have to teach me," she stated matter of factly.

I looked at her in consideration. This was not going to end well.

"I promise I'll be careful," Sam stated mechanically. I raised one eyebrow at her, challenging her further. She rolled her eyes. "And I promise I'll stay on the road." I smirked evilly at her. "Okay, okay. I won't swerve in front of any cars at the first sight of a fat cake store."

This was enough for me. I jumped on the back of the motorcycle. "Okay first things first. Put it in drive. Sam did as she was told. "Okay now…" I was cut off by the shriek of the engine and the sudden movement of the vehicle. Sam was racing down the street, and let out a "WOO-HOO!" I nearly fell off the bike in surprise. But I soon caught myself on her waist.

"Sam! Stop the bike!" I shouted in an attempt to get her to slow down. But it was no use. We were now zooming down the highway and she was out of control.

"Whoa!" Just as fast as she had started, Sam was skidding and spinning wildly to a stop. The sudden cease of movement made me fall half off of the bike, and the only reason I was able to stay on was because of my hold on her waist. I set myself off on the bike.

It was silent for a few moments while we each caught our breath. Suddenly, Sam looked at me with a huge smile plastered on her face. I can only assume my look for her was one of terror.

At the same time I spit out, "That was terrible," she was shouting, "That was awesome!"

"What? No!" I told her. I hastily got off of the bike. "Are you insane? You could have gotten us killed," I attempted to reason with her. She waved me away with her hand, "Did you really expect me to listen to you?"

"No."

"Well, there you go," she said, raising and dropping her arms in exasperation. I stared at her, attempting to be furious with her, yet knowing she was right. I should have known. I took a deep breath. "Fine, let's try this again." I reluctantly got back on the bike with her. "Now slowly this time, Sam. Please. Spare my life," I begged her.

I caught a flash of a smirk in her rearview mirror. "Yeah, I guess I want you to stick around." Without any further prodding from me, Sam pulled back onto the road, at a much slower pace. "Okay now, Sam, steer straight." I attempted to teach her.

"I am, Fredamame."

It was true actually. When Sam was not totally out of control she actually appeared to be a good driver.

We soon made it to what appeared to be civilization. There were now dozens of cars Sam was speeding past. Time was flying by and I saw a sign that told us we were in Estacada, Oregon.

I had also been teaching Sam various techniques she needed to know to spare our lives. "Wow, Sam. After that first initial scare, you're kind of a natural."

Sam beamed at my compliment before shouting, "Whoa." Sam began to swerve the second she took her eyes off of the road and we were heading for a straight on collision with the truck. I put my hands on top of hers that were on the handlebars. I somehow managed to get us back on course and going straight, but not before the angry drivers started honking madly.

Sam was holding her breath and going perfectly straight as I released my hands from hers and sat back further. "Maybe I spoke too soon." I added.

Sam just nodded and kept her eyes on the road. "You know, you're good when you focus. Just try to not lose control and we could take turns driving. I could pass you."

"Oh really? I have to pass a test now?"

"Yes, just don't crash us. Then you can pass."

"That's it? That's easy." Sam stated with a huff.

Yeah, in a perfect world she would never have gotten control of Harley in the first place. "Let's hope."

**Sam's POV**

It had been fun at first, driving. But after a few hours it got really tedious and it was harder and harder to focus on not getting into a crash. Partly because my stupid brain couldn't get my mind off of the boy behind me.

_Alright Sam, slow it down, a turn is coming up. _I told myself. Then I caught sight of Freddie's eyes in my rearview mirror. I swerved for a fraction of a second. "Sam," his voice warned me as I gained back control. "Sorry," I muttered.

I watched another SUV pass in front of me and sighed. "I'm getting bored of this." I announced.

"Driving with you is never boring," Freddie stated. I wasn't sure to take this as an insult or compliment. "Well, I have an idea," I told him.

"What?" he asked interested.

I didn't answer him. Instead I left the highway, barely avoiding vehicles. I was on the grass now, next to the road. Every yard I drove getting farther from civilization, I was soon driving up a steep, grassy hill overlooking a lake.

"I wanted a change of view," I answered him finally.

He quirked his eyebrows in wonder. "Well, I suppose we _are_ safer up here."

"Freddie. Watch it." I snapped at him for insulting my driving skills.

"I'm sorry," he defended himself, laughing.

Freddie could be such a dork sometimes. I drove along the grass and Freddie turned to watch the lake glisten in the sun. The sun was high in the sky now, so I figured it must be mid-afternoon. Then it hit me like a lightning bolt. "Fredward, I haven't eaten all day," I declared, dragging out the word all.

My stomach exploded into a ravenous monster searching for food. His head snapped back to reality and he told me, "Okay just drive a little longer."

"No, I'm tired of driving." I protested.

"Well we need to find a good spot," he urged.

I scoffed at that. A good spot? So he could have a good view or something? None of that mattered anymore when mama was hungry.

But I didn't protest. Something inside me was changing when it came to Freddie. His voice somehow resounded within me. I didn't want to make him upset or angry. But somehow, someway, I just really wanted to make him happy. So, I did the unthinkable. I listened to him.

I drove for another whole ten minutes until suddenly Freddie announced, "Stop right here. It's the perfect spot for a picnic."

A picnic? "Since when are we having a picnic?"

"Since now," he returned, unfazed. "Now, slow down gradually and shift the bike to park."

I did as he said and successfully made Harley stay in one place. We jumped off the bike and Freddie laid down a blanket for the two of us. I grinned at his attempt to get the blanket completely flat and remove all wrinkles as I opened my backpack of wonders and checked the food inside.

I decided that some sandwiches would be nice for this "picnic", so I got out some bread that we had bought at the store, some cheese, and of course ham. I brought everything over to Freddie and plopped down next to him.

He smiled at the fact that I was trying out some of his fruits when I took out the grapes. I paused and stared at him, daring him to speak. "Good choice," he stated simply.

We ate in a comfortable silence until my energy started to go on overload. I grabbed a grape and plucked it off the stem. When Freddie wasn't looking, I tossed it up lightly in the air and let it fall right on Freddie's nose.

I started to laugh manically, before I had two realizations. Number one, I was the only one laughing. Number two, a grape had landed in my mouth while I was laughing manically.

I swallowed the grape and stared at Freddie in shock. After a few seconds, we both broke out laughing. "Ha-ha, you missed! I think?" I said to him. He smirked at me and said, "Yeah, but oh well, that turned out cooler anyway."

"Yeah, let me try," I suggested and tossed a grape in a perfect arch into his own mouth, which he promptly swallowed. He laughed and returned the favor. Before either of us realized it, we were having a competition to see who could make the better catch.

"You know, Freddie," I started but had to pause to catch a grape. "I never realized how much fun you could be."

He snorted, "What? You think just because I'm mommy's little boy, that I don't know how to have fun?"

"Yeah," I said without hesitating.

"Well I do. You just wait and see."

"I can hardly wait to see Bad Boy Benson," I laughed at the irony of my statement.

My eyes shifted to the horizon and I could see that the sky was quickly changing to shades of yellow and orange. "I think we better get on the road again, before it gets dark."

"Sure thing," Freddie said and we began to clean up our little picnic.

When everything was safely secured in my backpack I said, "I think I'm going to lose weight if I keep eating like this," as we made our way to Harley.

"You have nothing to lose," Freddie stated matter-of-factly. His statement was very true; it was always a wonder how I managed to stay so small. When we reached the bike, I got into the passenger seat again. He looked down at me and I said, "I think that maybe you should drive now."

Freddie nodded, "Good idea."

He eventually made his way back to the road, so that we would have more of an idea of where we were going and not get lost.

As he made his way, I relaxed. Driving really tires you out, especially when you're trying not to kill someone who is suddenly very important, in your eyes. I leaned against the back of the seat, and let the wind blow across my face and closed my eyes.

I thought for a minute about how this was really happening. If someone had told me a week ago that I would be on my way to Texas on the run with only Freddie Benson, I would have thought they should go back to the crazy factory they surely escaped from. But now, I really couldn't picture it any other way.

I occasionally snuck in a word with Freddie as I just lay there. I must not have been paying full attention to what he was saying now though, because without me remembering anything about the conversation, he said, "Then I was going to try out my new big high-speed hard drive, but I never got to. Because, I came on the road with you." He shrugged, "It doesn't matter though, and I'll get back to it soon."

I nodded and added, "If I lose the bet."

He turned around as if to say something, but I added, "Like that would ever happen."

"It's possible!"

"Maybe in your dreams," I suggested.

He laughed, "Hey, a lot can happen in dreams!"

I changed my direction, "They usually are somewhat reasonable though, or try to tell you something."

"Where are you going with this?" He asked me.

"I'm just trying to say that if you dream about it, I'll still win."

"Right, okay, Puckett." He did not sound convinced. "I think it's a good time to stop for the night."

His statement made me look around. Sure enough, it was very dark outside, so much so that it would probably be unsafe to drive any farther.

"Okay. Pull over here." I told him.

The boy obeyed me without even trying to put up a fight about where this time. There was some grass around but I could still see the highway, even though there were never any cars on it now.

We went through the ritual and laid out the blankets side – by – side to each other. I turned my head to Freddie and thought about how cold he looked. "Good –night, Sam."

"Wait, Freddie. Take my blanket tonight."

Freddie looked shocked. "You're offering me the better blanket?"

"That's what I said," I answered defensively.

He looked over me for a second and then said, "No, I couldn't do that to you."

I rolled my eyes, "Freddie, I'll be fine. Really."

Still, he shook his head no. I sighed, "If you don't take the blanket, I'm going to beat you up."

His mind made up, Freddie snatched the blanket away from me pretty quickly. We got comfortable; well, he got comfortable. I managed to look comfortable. "Thanks, Puckett," I heard, breaking the silence.

"Don't mention it."

"Good – night, Sam. Dream of Ham."

"Good – night, Freddie. Dream of Techie."

And without another word, our dreams overtook us, especially Freddie.

**Alright, let me know what you think! I love hearing from you. P.S. Sorry about the wait again. Anyway I hope you enjoyed!**


	8. The Dream

**Freddie's POV**

"Gahh," I yelped as I covered my eyes from the bright, blinding light that suddenly overtook my vision. After I was sure it had gone away, I opened my eyes to see what looked like a living room decorated in nothing but white. There were white curtains, with a white window showing the day light streaming in.

Through this all there was a coffee table in the center of the room, with white living chairs on both sides of it. Sitting atop one of the chairs was none other than Carly Shay, standing out like never before with her alarming head of black hair. But even I hadn't noticed at first as she too was dressed in the cleanest, purest white, topped off with a white sun hat.

She looked up suddenly, sensing someone was there. I acted on instinct and started to run over to her shouting happily, "Carly!" But I heard someone who sounded exactly like me say the same thing and the same person who looked exactly like me too, ran over to Carly, and I stopped dead in my tracks.

I stood there for a minute, confused as I watched the other me and Carly sit and smile at each other. I eventually, slowly, made my way to the pair and tentatively tried to touch the other me's hair. My hand went right through, so I naturally screamed. They didn't seem to notice.

"Carly, it's…" the other me began finally, at a loss for words. "It's been forever!" Carly finished for the other me excitedly. The other me nodded. Carly then made a twisted angry face, "You had to go and take off like that! Where have you been? I was so worried."

The other me's eyes widened at the same time as mine did and he said, "I've been everywhere, Carly! You totally missed it. I stole a motorcycle, I went to this dance club, and I even had this little picnic." The other me laughed as Carly just sat there in shock. The other me, seeing her face, then added, "But I mean, I ran away. I just needed to get away from life for a little while."

Carly shook her head, "You seem like you changed. But anyway, how have you been? I missed you so much."

"Better than I thought, actually. You see, I've been with Sam." Their faces changed at that moment. I saw the other me's face light up and get a sparkle in his eye, and Carly's fall with a mix of slight shock and pain. "I did all those things I mentioned with her, and you know I really learned a lot from her. I could have never made it this far without her. We're a great team."

Carly made a weak smile, "Sam. Of course, she's been gone too. It sounds like she's been doing well too."

The other me nodded, oblivious to Carly's feelings. "Yeah, she's learning to drive. I'm teaching her."

"Oh my gosh," Carly breathed, taken aback. The other me laughed, "Yeah, it's scary."

"So how have you been?" He finally asked. "How's Griffin doing?"

"Oh, we broke up," Carly said sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that. What happened?" The other me asked sincerely, without a trace of excitement, as would be expected. I smiled at him, "Dude, that's great. Now's your chance. Say something that makes her know u still want her. She's all over you. This is what you've always wanted."

I watched the two, waiting for a response but knowing I wasn't going to get one. I saw the sadness in her eyes, and the distance in his. "Right?" I added, unsure of the answer myself.

"He just wasn't into the relationship like I was. I felt unloved. I missed feeling loved."

"Yeah, I know the feeling. You'll find someone though, I know you will," he encouraged.

Carly then flashed the brightest smile she could, "I was thinking maybe you could be that someone."

This was it. This was everything that I had ever wanted, my life goal. It was all right in front of me, or the other me at least. All he had to do was say, 'Sure, Carly. There's nothing I'd love more than to live in a cottage with you for the rest of our lives and have kids who turn out to be doctors and become a famous actress and director ourselves.'

But that's not what happened. "I'm sorry, Carly. That's just not me anymore."

Carly looked up with an as calm expression as she could possibly muster. "It's her. Isn't it?"

At that moment, color began to come back into the room. I saw that the walls were actually purple, and the furniture was red and blue. Carly's hat turned to blue too, and I found the other me wearing blue jeans and a green dress shirt. I could hear soft sentimental music playing now in the background, like they played at all the sappy parts in the movies.

"I can't live without Sam," The other me said. Carly just nodded, understanding. "I get it. She's your everything now."

"Yeah, that's right, Sam." The other me said, as Carly's image faded smoothly into Sam's, who was wearing every color of the rainbow. Sam smiled, and I watched the two, who looked happy. Suddenly, everything faded to black, the whole scene dissolved, and I collapsed onto the ground.

Everything was silent for a moment, until I heard Sam's voice booming through the darkness, "Then maybe you should realize the truth yourself, Frederly." Her voice echoed on the word 'Frederly', and that was the last thing I heard before I woke up.

I bolted upwards in a panic. There was no white room and there was no Carly around. The only thing I saw was Sam sleeping, curled up in a ball, miles and miles of nothing, and the moon shining in the sky.

My mind was so confused. That was a dream, right? It just seemed so real. Tentatively, making sure that I wouldn't wake her, I lightly tapped Sam's shoulder. Thankfully, my hand did not go through this time.

So, it _was_ just a dream. But, it made so much sense and didn't make sense all at the same time. I decided to go for a walk just to figure this all out.

I got up and walked up to Harley, sliding my hand across the bike as I went. I turned around to see the moon still shining bright, and there was no sound in the air except for a cricket every couple of minutes. I slid my hands into my hair and almost pulled it out, out of frustration.

That dream was a complete lie. I was not over Carly, right? I mean, sure, a lot had happened in the past few days but, it was _Carly_. Yet, I found that I couldn't quite remember the exact features of her face like I used to.

The wind was cold against my skin, as I stood there looking off into the distance. Something was definitely different about me, like Carly told me (sorta). I couldn't quite place it though. But I did know one thing. Sam had certainly become my best friend.

This night almost didn't seem real. There were a million things running through my mind. But I pushed the past out of my head. I was done looking back, and trying to hold onto something, trying to hold on to Carly.

Carly was always going to be my friend, but that was it. I had to let her go, and Sam was helping me overcome that. I had to focus on my future now. There was so much adventure left to be had, that I couldn't just go home without Sam. I didn't know what was in store for me, but I'd be ready this time.

All of a sudden, I started to feel lonely and couldn't stay in that place anymore. I started to turn back to where Sam and I were camped, while I thought about the possibilities for the future. I had to hold up my end of the bargain and help get us farther towards Texas sooner.

I was back at camp in what seemed like no time, though I was moving at a very slow pace. I dropped onto my knees on the blanket that Sam had so graciously let me borrow. Sam hadn't moved at all, she was just lightly breathing in and out. I speculated that she was having much simpler dreams, because every once in a while she would mumble, "No, that's my ham. Back away."

I laughed almost silently under my breath. That was Sam alright. I came to the conclusion that I could not do without her, or I would probably die out here or just become a total mess. But I knew I was going to be okay, and I wasn't lonely anymore. Plus, I could forget about Carly, it might take a little time, but she was already a fading image in my mind anyway.

I tried to go back to sleep for a little, but I found out that I probably shouldn't have taken that long walk, because I was too awake. Another reason was that I was quite scared of what my subconscious would have me dream up next. So, I just sat on the blanket and watched Sam sleep until sunrise.

**Okay, this was a little bit of a shorter chapter, but completely fun to write his dream! I hope you enjoyed it :D Tell me if you did!**


	9. Possibly, Maybe I'm Falling for you

**Freddie's POV**

Sam was finally beginning to open her eyes, and I saw them catch the glare from the sun in a way that made them sparkle with life. I had a feeling that this was not an unusual occurrence, but rather as if my own eyes were being opened for the first time, and I was able to see Sam in a whole new way.

Her eyes locked with mine and they seemed to search for something, but only for a second. She soon shot up from her lying position and spoke, "Morning, Benson," as if nothing had ever happened.

And I guess that nothing did happen. The dream had just seemed so real. I let a smile take over my mouth and replied lightly, "Morning, Puckett."

The blonde began to pace back and forth, rambling instructions at me, "So, today, I was thinking we would cover get all the way to Nevada. I know it's pretty far away, but if we don't rest, then we should be able to make it there in no time."

She had such determination in her voice and her every movement that anyone who tried to argue with her would get shut down with passion. "Okay," I agreed with her, "I believe you."

"Well then, good. We should go as soon as possible, so that we don't lose anytime, and I really don't want to be stuck in traffic."

She scampered off to Harley and got into the driver's seat, as if this were a routine thing to do after only one day driving. But, I was amused, so I just let her go. However, I would be sure to keep an extra eye on her.

After we were all settled into the car, Sam started the engine, and began to drive down the road.

"Slower, Sam. We're not in a race," I told her, trying to save our lives.

Sam just laughed lightly, "That's what you think." So, Sam did slow down in the slightest bit, and we continued on.

The wind was blowing Sam's hair back so that it was somewhat in my face, but it didn't matter to me. I could smell the natural fruit scent she had in it, or maybe it wasn't so natural, and she really was eating our fruit. But that was mixed with the smell of rain and the tiniest hint of grass, truly the outdoors were getting to her, and I had a feeling they were getting to me too.

But all of these circumstances only made her even more beautiful to me. She was a strong girl, probably the strongest I knew. I thought of Carly for only a fraction of a second and I knew that she would have quit a long time ago and demanded us to take her home, if she were with us.

I was thankful that Sam seemed oblivious to my thoughts, because I was afraid that if she somehow heard these things that she might slap me.

Yet, all we did was drive in silence. Sam's fingers trailed along the controls for the motorcycle, temporarily taking one hand off the wheel.

"Sam! Two hands on the wheel, pronto!"

"Wait, Freddison. There's a radio on here! How come we didn't notice before?" Sam reported excitedly as she went to turn it on.

Music blasted through the air, a sound I had missed so much that I didn't bother to get mad at her, if I even could.

A Mayday Parade song was playing, one of our favorite groups. "Yes, I love this song!" Sam shouted, and I smiled a knowing smile.

"Me too, just put both hands on the wheel, please."

"Fine, party pooper," was the response I got, but she did as I said.

The song was a nice way to break the silence, and we had soon been on the road for a few hours, breaking the silence often.

Suddenly, I spotted two spotted dogs up ahead, in the middle of the road. Sam seemed to notice too, yet I still shouted, "Sam! Stop!"

She was suddenly swerving out of control and we landed on our butts with the motorcycle lying next to us, seemingly unscratched.

Luckily, there was no one on the road, so the puppies were no longer in harm's way. But Sam and I still hurried to go pick them up. They were so light and fluffy that you just wanted to eat them up.

Sam and I sat on the side of the road in the grass as we cooed over our unexpected companions. They looked almost identical to each other: white fur with black spots all over their body, like a Dalmatian's.

"They are so cute!" I heard Sam say with wide eyes looking into the puppies own confused ones. I agreed with her, and the fact that we just crashed was put out of our minds. Sam was throwing the puppy up in the air and the puppy looked scared out of its wits, but Sam was laughing.

"That puppy is going to hate you already," I point out to her.

She just shakes her head and begins to cuddle the puppy close to her and tells me, "No she won't, we're just playing. Just look at her, she loves me."

And it was true, the dog was now looking up at Sam with happy little puppy eyes. They already looked like they cared about each other, and my heart melted. I had never seen something so pure and innocent in my entire life, especially from Sam Puckett. I was sort of scared at my sudden overwhelming emotion for this girl. Was I falling for Sam?

I gazed down at the puppy in my own arms. He was a little different from Sam's puppy, for he had black paws, where Sam's dog's paws were white, and his ears were folded down, whereas his female counterpart's were pointed.

The boy dog rolled over, and I found myself rubbing his belly, which was surely what he wanted. "Aw, Cookie, don't go for the cookie," I heard Sam's voice say, so I directed my attention on her. Sure enough, the dog was going into Sam's bag and had found a cookie.

Sam successfully got the cookie away from the dog when I realized what she had called it. "Did you just name the dog?"

Sam didn't see a problem with it, so she nodded her head nonchalantly. I made a frustrated sound, "Don't name her. If you name her, you'll want to keep her."

Sam was shocked, "We are definitely keeping Cookie and Bouncer!" and she stamped her foot for effect. I shook my head, "Bouncer? And what are we going to do with them? We can hardly take care of ourselves, so how are we going to take care of dogs?"

"Well I was thinking about that," Sam began, "We could build a basket, or make one, or buy one. And then we can put it on Harley and drive like that, a la Dorothy and Toto."

I was shaking my head, "I don't know how we're going to do that."

"Leave that to me," Sam said confidently. Then she pointed to the grass. I waited, expecting her to explain. When she didn't, I asked her why she was pointing at the ground.

"I'll use this grass to make a basket."

"Wow, you might need a lot of grass for that," I informed her.

She plopped down quickly and yet gracefully and began to get to work as she muttered, "I'll be done in no time."

And she wasn't lying. I must have sat there and stared at her for a good forty-five minutes, both puppies in my lap, as she effortlessly put together the basket with nothing but her bare hands like a pro. She never ceased to amaze me with the things she could accomplish.

Cookie left my grasp and ran straight at Sam, and plopped in her newly made basket. "See?" she made me notice, "Cookie knows where she belongs."

Sam lifted up the basket, came over and snatched Bouncer, and got back onto Harley, with both the puppies in the basket. She turned around for a second and cocked an eyebrow at me, "Are you coming? We don't have all day."

I shook my thoughts of amazement away and sat on the motorcycle behind her. Like a professional, she sped out onto the highway again.

Cookie was fidgeting in the basket and stomped all over Bouncer to try and jump into Sam's arms. "No, bad Cookie," I yelled at the puppy with a light voice, but Cookie whimpered all the same.

"Awww, you don't have to yell at the little girl, she's just a baby," Sam protested with me in defense of the dog.

"Sam, I'm trying to save all our lives here. If she jumped on you, you'd crash."

"Do you doubt my natural driving talent?" she asked in a mock hurtful tone.

"Well…" I hesitated, "yes."

Sam huffed and shook her head in dismay. "I'll show you who can drive."

And with that, she slammed down on the gas, and we kept going faster and faster. I watched the pedometer on the bike as I fell on her and held on for dear life. It was showing 60, 70, 80, 90 and counting. Cookie and bouncer would have flown out if they had not been pulled down by the building air pressure.

"Whoa, slow down!" I had to yell at her so she would hear.

"Admit I'm a good driver," Sam shouted back at me.

Sam was being completely ridiculous. Did she really have to nearly kill us to be proven right? "Okay, you're a natural Sam, better than me," I told her with my fingers crossed.

This seemed to satisfy Sam enough to slow her down. "Ha," she said as she drove at a normal pace. I laughed, and I don't know why. I don't know how many times she had put us in life or death situations, and then just blew it off right afterwards. But, I loved her anyways.

Wait, what? I think I'm getting my girls mixed up, I should really get some more sleep. Or maybe there really is nothing wrong with me.

I don't think that I wanted to know the answer to that one, so I shook my head and tried to think of something else. I noticed that we were driving over a bridge and that the late afternoon sun made the water below us glisten with what seemed like a thousand crystals. "Beautiful isn't it?" Sam asked me, noticing that my gaze had turned onto the water beneath us.

"Yeah, I've never seen anything like it. They don't have these waters in Seattle."

"I know," she said nonchalantly. "You know, I've been a lot of places, but I always liked the Oregon waters the most."

"Really? I didn't know you traveled," I mentioned.

"Oh well I used to when I was little, but then my mother stopped caring."

"Oh right…" I remembered our conversation a few nights ago and about Sam's bruises and her refusal to get help.

"You know Sam, if you ever…" I started, offering my comfort.

"I know, you'd help me. But Freddie, we're really not going back there."

I couldn't tell her how I felt. The truth was my pain for her was unimaginable. Someone so beautiful should never have to go through this much pain. I was going to fix this, whether Sam liked it or not.

I don't know how or when it happened, but suddenly, the sun was setting, and I had the spent the entire day on the back of a motorcycle holding on to Sam. I hadn't noticed, but I never let her go after I fell on her when she was going so fast. "Nevada," Sam said out of nowhere.

At first, I was lost and not sure what she was talking about, but I found her pointing at a sign that read "Welcome to Nevada!".

"Wow, you actually got us here alive," I teased her. "Don't act so surprised," she warned.

"I'm just kidding," I assured her.

"I know."

"Uh oh," Sam barely whispered.

"What's wrong?" I asked, assuming the worst. She was already wearing off on me, for I was right.

"The police, on my left. Don't make eye contact Freddison, they're looking for us," She advised me. I didn't even respond, because I didn't want to mess this up for us.

Part of me wanted to tell her she was just being paranoid; there was not a whole legion of police out there looking for us surely. But as soon as the thought crossed my mind, I saw a huge missing poster on their car with our faces on it, saying "Have you seen these children?"

Children? We were sixteen, and perfectly capable to take care of ourselves. But I didn't correct them, because well, that would obviously get us caught. Sam was sneaky, barely pushing harder on the gas pedal to not make a scene, yet not to dawdle there long.

Luckily, the police officer was happily eating a donut and didn't notice us go by, plus it was dark.

"You know I'm almost kind of jealous of that donut, it looked tasty," Sam laughed.

"I'm impressed you can go this long without food."

"Me too. But seriously, that was a close one," Sam sighed.

"Yeah, you don't think that will happen often do you?" I asked her hopefully.

"Freddie, it's your mother," Sam stated obviously, "If she wasn't so obsessed with you, we'd be free."

Sam did have a point, but there was no way my mother would ever loosen up. "Actually, I'm surprised she's not dead yet," I confided in Sam.

"Yeah, you think the lady would have had a heart attack or something."

I nodded in agreement and then there wasn't even thirty seconds of silence before Sam pulled up in front of a hotel, grabbed Cookie and Bouncer and started to walk in. Once again, apparently I wasn't informed of the plan. I sat on the bike and made a face that screamed, "What the heck?" except no one was watching.

I stupidly left the bike unattended but I had to see what Sam was up to. I ran and caught up with her. She was just meandering around in a lobby until she found her breakthrough and ducked behind a big wall. "Sam, what..." I started to yell at her before she pulled me down too. "They can't know where here," she said as she slapped my mouth.

"Then why _are_ we here? What's wrong with sleeping in the woods? "

She rolled her eyes in a very Sam like fashion. "I'm tired of that. So here's the plan. You go up to the desk and pay for one person for one night here, you come back here very sneakily, and give me the room key where I sneakily rush up there with the dogs so that no one notices me, then you can meander up there and I'll let you in," she explained to me, making hand motions the entire time for emphasis.

I stood there staring at her for a second, amazed by her plan, "This is never going to work," I pointed out to her. She shook her head, "You know, Freddork, you've come a long way, but you have a lot to learn still."

"But..this..it.." I stammered, with a failed attempt to reason with her. "Go," she urged. I quickly got up and obeyed. I don't know what she does to me, but this happens way too often.

I arrived at the desk and didn't know what to say. The guy studied my face, and I figured I'd better make this quick. "Umm…I'd like a room please, for one."

He cocked an eyebrow, "Name," he ordered. "Nathan…Kress." I said, giving the alias Sam had given me in the grocery store and adding a random last name. "Uh-huh. That will be one hundred dollars."

Ugh, did Sam think I was made of money? She was going to take everything I had. I swallowed my dismay and handed over the money without a fuss, not wanting to blow my cover. "Thank you. Your room is number 239. Enjoy your night," he told me and handed over the key.

"Thanks," I said and whistled my way over to Sam and smoothly handed her the room key. She looked at the number as she jumped on a luggage cart and casually pushed herself along. Once I was sure she would make it safely with the puppies and all, I went back out to Harley to get the basket and park.

I found Harley right where I left it, surprisingly. I got on and started the motor, careful not to make too much noise at this hour. The parking lot was only a few meters away, so it didn't take long to get there and find a good parking space.

The night air was cool against my skin and I smiled to myself for no apparent reason. Well, I suppose I was excited to actually sleep in a real bed tonight. The hotel was much warmer than outside, and I didn't mind that either. I meandered my way down the hall to the room, and was happy that everyone passed me by like I was an ordinary nobody.

I got to Sam and I's door and knocked. "Freddork?" I heard her call in a whisper. "Yes, it's me, Sam. Let me in," I confirmed.

Sam briskly opened the door to reveal the nicely furnished room. The lights were on and there was a TV that was set to the news channel playing. In the corner of the room there was a small bathroom. I noticed that there was only one double bed in the center of the room.

Sam went and lied down on what was presumably going to be her side of the bed, placed her head in her hands and watched the news. I walked over to her and stood by the bed.

"Anything interesting?" I asked her.

"Not particularly, but I just wanted to keep track of things."

I turned my attention to the Television, where a news anchor was standing in the rain in what was presumably Eureka, Nevada, according to the words at the bottom of the screen. "_Two murders have occurred here in the past two nights. Bystanders have described the suspects as 'drunk bar addicts who are tough, big, and dark, with dark eyes and they wear dark clothes. People have been asked to avoid this area for a little while until these troublesome men can be caught and imprisoned. Back to you, Frank," _the lady finished speaking.

"Wow, we should probably avoid that city then, right?" I asked Sam.

She looked thoughtful but eventually replied with a shrug, "They don't really scare me."

"Nothing scares you."

Sam bit her lip hard and never responded.

"So…um..where am I going to sleep?" I asked her, my thoughts coming back to the only bed in the room.

"With me, silly. I don't bite," Sam replied.

"Are you sure?," I asked her tentatively. "Won't that be a little… I don't know..awkward..for you?" I stammered.

"I'm fine with it. You have to learn to be more appreciative. We have this bed here, and the next time we're getting a bed is probably not for a long time, so we should both use it," she informed.

I suppose that you had to think like Sam to survive out here, screw etiquette. Those were Sam's general rules for life.

"Okay, sure then."

I climbed into bed and Sam did the same. "Good night Sam, dream of ham," I told her, traditionally now.

"Good night Freddie, dream of techie," I heard the automatic response.

I expected to see Sam turn and face the wall, but she appeared to fall asleep instantly. Being on the run really takes a lot out of you. I was going to turn, but for some reason I couldn't take my eyes for her. I thought about my dream last night, and that maybe my psyche was trying to tell me something, or maybe I really needed more to eat, or maybe those puppies in the corner of the room coiled up together to keep heat were making me go soft, or maybe it's that I'm trying to replace the Carly figure in my life.

But I think it's that possibly, maybe, I'm falling for Sam Puckett.


	10. Dinner and a Doozy

**Sam's POV**

The early morning sunlight sifted through the hotel window and forced my eyelids open. I stretched, taking in the beauty of Nevada as I woke up. When I looked by my side I saw the adorable dork Freddie Benson sleeping next to me. I giggled to myself, staring at his motionless form. What a cute boy.

"_Snap out of it, Sam! You know you'd never stand a chance with him! And stop with the girly gushing" _a voice in the back of my mind reminded me. Oh right. Whether Carly was here or not, she still reigned supreme in Freddie's mind.

As I was staring at Freddie, unable to drive my gaze away, his eyes opened and he caught me staring at him. Quickly, shyly, I redirected my gaze to the window, but I think it was too late.

"Good morning, Samantha," Freddie said as I casually turned back to look at him and saw he was wearing a sly smile.

"Oh, you're up," I offhandedly mentioned. Suddenly, I realized how he had greeted me.

"Wait, what did you call me?!"

"Oh, nothing. Puckett." He bemusedly corrected himself as his eyes locked with mine.

I waited, the seconds building upon each other, for him to break the eye contact. But he did not. It felt as if he were looking right through my eyes into the depths of my soul. Finally assuming he would not redirect his gaze, I broke the contact myself.

"We..um…should probably get moving. The goal today is to make it to Prescott, Arizona," I let him know.

Freddie became more alert and business-like. "Right. Let's go. I'm driving; we need to stay on task today if we're going to go that far. No fat cake stops!"

I rolled my eyes when Freddie wasn't looking and consented to his request. Oh, the things this boy does to me.

We were back on the road fairly quickly, Freddie's attention directed fully on the highway as he masterfully ignored the playful puppies that were partially obstructing his view.

My hands were tied in a knot comfortably around his waist and my head was on his shoulder. Freddie cautiously took one hand off the handlebar to turn on the radio but I stopped him in what I consider a _very_ angelic tone…

"NO DON'T TURN ON THE RADIO!"

Freddie pulled his hand back immediately as the bike swerved a little to the left. Cookie and Bouncer whimpered in their basket.

"Why don't you want to listen to the radio today?"

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly even though he couldn't see me. "I feel like singing today."

I can only imagine the amused expression on Freddie's face now. "Since when do you volunteer to sing while you're sober?"

"Since always. I just never wanted to sing around you, because well…" I trailed off.

"Because you what?" Freddie inquired in a 'you better not refuse to answer my question' tone.

"Well I just never wanted you to see me as a softie. Doesn't matter now though. I'm tired of building up walls. Unless of course, you don't want to hear me sing?"

Freddie sounded shocked at my confession, as he said, "No I love your voice. I would be delighted if you sang me a song."

"Okay," I replied hesitantly, trying to rack my mind for a familiar melody. "Well there was this one song that my Uncle CJ used to sing to me when I was a little girl."

"The man we're going to see now?" Freddie inquired.

"Yes, him. It's kind of dumb though and I never really figured out what it meant," I shook off the idea.

"Everyone revels in dumb little things from their childhood. That's what makes them so special." I knew he was just trying to make me feel better.

"This is _really_ dumb though, because its not supposed to be dumb. You see, my Uncle CJ was always looking out for me, and that's why I'm going to go see him. He knew my mother wasn't always right in the brain and said if I ever needed help that I should come find him where the song leads me," I explain to Freddie in one breath.

"Then that's really important. You have to sing it for me," he replies, always thinking rationally.

"Well, okay," I say, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes as I call the words back into my memory.

"_I'm where the river stops_

_Yonder over three white stones_

_I'm where the river stops_

_Through the woods, ignore the moans_

_I'm where the river stops_

_Beyond the fence, behind the tree_

_I'm where the river stops_

_Past the tree house you'll find me_

_I'm where the river stops_

_Wait it out and there I'll be"_

I can feel Freddie shudder underneath my grasp and know that the song is too eerie for him to handle. I think for a moment that I've made a mistake. That's when he says, "That was beautiful. Thanks Sam. If you're uncle isn't where he's supposed to be, we'll follow that song."

I nod even though I know he can't see me. "Yeah," I reply and then I shake my head to rid myself of all the bad memories associated with my childhood. "You can turn the radio on now. I'm done singing."

Freddie heeds my command and this time when he moves to turn on the radio I don't scream at him.

Kesha flows through the speakers, completely obliterating any remnant of a sentimental mood.

I spend the next few hours nodding occasionally to Freddie's recount of how difficult being a cameraman for iCarly was. Whenever he wants to find a job, it should be easy for him if he puts that on his résumé. Do I think there are a lot of video production jobs in Texas? Do I? Well do I?

"SAM!" he shouts, breaking my train of thought and I accidentally break off a fingernail in my surprise at Freddie's sudden voice level.

"Yes?"

"Do you think there are video production jobs in Texas?" he asks again.

"Oh. Possibly. You know I don't look into that stuff. I haven't had the best experiences with jobs. _Especially _tech stuff. That's just absurd. I reserve the tech stuff for freddorks."

Freddie's muscles get tense and I can feel his dismay as he mumbles, "Okay."

I don't realize for another hour that he was suggesting he stay in Texas, with me. Why else would he need a job there?

I was lost in thought for a while before I glanced on the ground and saw a wad of bills. "Freddie, stop," I say trying to keep my voice calm so I don't startle him.

"Thanks for not shattering my ear drum this time, Sam," he says as he slows to a stop. I quickly jump off the bike and run backwards to where I saw the money. I can hear Freddie's thuds as he races to keep up with me, "What is it?" he inquires.

I grin as I run my hands over each and every dollar, fanning Freddie's face with the green fortune.

"It's our lucky day. That's what it is, Benson." I smile and turn around, my eyes finding a cute diner about 50 yards away. "You know," I say turning back to Freddie, "you still owe me a meal. It may not be breakfast, but dinner works just as well."

Freddie blushed as he took the money from me and put it in his pocket. "I don't know Sam. Isn't this Eureka, Nevada? There are murderers on the loose. It's not exactly the best time to be settling down for a bite to eat. Look, let's just go a little while longer and find somewhere else to eat and I promise I won't argue then."

I put up a hand to stop him. "Since when do you make the rules? I thought I told you that I am in charge during this trip. I am the experienced one. Not you. And I am hungry."

Freddie rolled his head back and threw his hands out like he was pouting and said, "But Sam, I'm just looking out for…" he stopped as he saw me standing there, tapping my foot, raising my eyebrows at him as I dared him to continue.

"Fine then. We'll eat here. It's a date," he says, and it's my turn to blush.

I decide to ignore the whole date comment and start walking towards the diner when Freddie asks what we should do with Cookie and Bouncer.

"Let's just leave them. We can't sneak them in. They'll be fine." I say but I risk a glance back in the puppies' direction and see them pouting. "I'll bring you something," I tell them before Freddie and I finally depart to enjoy our dinner.

The diner turns out to be called the Saucy Café, and I inquire that this may become one of my favorite Italian places. It's red from the ceiling to the floor and the door is shaped like a pizza. _Yum. Mama like._

But as soon as my first step plods into the restaurant, I can tell it might have been a slight mistake. Everyone here is dressed in his or her best tuxedo or dress. Two teenagers walking in clothes that are pretty much synonymous with rags at this point stick out, and that's not good when you're on the run. But the thought of having a nice dinner with Freddie overrides all reason and when I see him giving the hostess our aliases, Jennette McGurdy and Nathan Kress. I smile by his side and avoid making eye contact with her.

We make our way to the table and sit on the overly plush chairs. The hostess hands us our menus and scurries away as quickly as possible, no doubt wanting to avoid the embarrassment of being seen in close proximity to a couple of street rats.

Freddie holds his menu like he holds his posture, straight, tall, and proud. It makes my slouching look almost ridiculous.

"What are you thinking about getting, Sam?" he asks me, calling me back to earth in the process.

"Umm. I think chicken Alfredo. You?"

"The vegetable lasagna is calling to me."

I should have known. Fredward never got over his love for veggies. I can't help but stifle a smile.

When the waitress comes back to take our orders, we order our entrees with the drinks. When you are wanted runaways, you don't always have time for a hearty meal, so we are always careful to make decisions quickly and effectively. Chicken Alfredo and vegetable lasagna would fill us up even if we hadn't eaten all day.

We find ourselves meticulously talking strategy: how long it will take before we are finally in Texas, when we will locate another decent place to sleep, how to toilet train Bouncer so that he no longer urinates on Cookie's face in the basket.

After we decide to take at least five stops a day for Bouncer's bladder needs, Freddie slouches back in his seat so that his pose mimics mine at last.

"I'm tired of all this talk," he says.

Hurt, I reply, "Fine. Don't talk to me then."

He laughs his low, reassuring chuckle. "No, Sam. I meant I'm tired of talking about tactics. We talk about that so much. What I really need right now is a break. Why don't you talk about you?"

I lift my head up for a second, perplexed, before plopping it back down and staring up at the ceiling, "Huh?"

"I know all about your love for ham, your expertise at taking care of yourself, and your horrible driving skills, but I want to know the stupid stuff. What is your favorite color?" he drills me.

I find myself sitting up, attentive. "Brown," I say.

His face scrunches up in perplexity. "Brown?" he repeats after me.

"That's what I said."

"Sam, that is the most disgusting color there is. Why brown? Let me guess. It's the color of chocolate."

I shake my head violently to make my point, "No. That's such a stupid reason. I like brown because it's the color of gravy."

Freddie tries to hide it, but I catch him roll his eyes at me, clearly unimpressed by my answer.

"Well if that's not good enough for you, what's your favorite color then?"

"Blue."

My face scrunched up in utter repulsion. "Blue is the most basic color you could possibly think of."

Freddie shrugged his shoulders, implying that he did not particularly care.

"I think you need to learn to take a walk on the wild side," I continued.

"Oh and leaving everything behind and gallivanting to Texas with you isn't wild enough?" he lifts an eyebrow. "Next Question. What would your ideal job be?"

"That's easy," I say. "An invisible ninja."

Freddie bobs his head, as if he understands my goals. "But if you were a good ninja, you wouldn't need to be invisible. You would move so fast that no one would notice you were there, even if you were visible."

I wave my hand in the air passively, "That's too much work. I'd rather be invisible from the start."

Freddie chuckles almost inaudibly to himself.

"Any more questions?"

"One more. What do you think about marriage?" He asks me this question as if he is asking how I feel about the weather outside today.

I'm taken aback. _Could he possibly know about my feelings for him? He's torturing me, isn't he? He thinks he can toy with little Sam Puckett because she toyed with him all of those years._

"Well," I start out talking slowly, being careful not to say anything too misleading. "I suppose if the right man came along, that that would be okay. Of course, he would have to obey my every command and feed me whenever I want to be fed," I add the last part as an afterthought.

Freddie struggles to keep the muscles in his face from forming into a grin, but he ultimately loses. He averts his eyes away from me, closely resembling a schoolboy whose friends have just been teasing him about the girl he likes. He must be thinking of Carly, somehow. There's no way his newfound sense of joy has anything to do with me.

I'm about to ask him how he feels about the topic when the waitress arrives and hands us our sizzling meals. My taste buds explode into ecstasy at the first bite of the chicken Alfredo. I haven't tasted anything this good in months; perhaps I've never tasted something this good. I watch Freddie chow down his food in a similar hungry and pained manner. To the rest of the restaurant patrons eating as dainty civilized people, we must look like baboons.

In less than five minutes, we have cleared our plates and are licking up the remnants of the pasta. After we have finally confessed to ourselves that there is simply no more cheesy delight left on our plate, Freddie pays the bill to the ashamed hostess who had originally seated us. We have not appeared to gain back any credibility from her, and upon looking down at my blouse I find that I have a huge Alfredo stain spreading wildly across the knitted fabric.

When we are once again back outside, I notice that the temperature must have dropped at least twenty degrees.

"Oh my gosh. Did we transport to Antarctica? It's freezing out here," I can barely get the words out of my mouth audibly because every bone in my body is shivering, attempting to keep in what little body heat I have left.

Freddie notices my fruitless attempts to retain warmth and says, "Come here. I'll…try to help."

At first, I'm not sure what he means but when he reaches out his arms to me, exposing his chest to the bitter cold, I take it as an open invitation to fall into his arms. Apparently I'm right, because he closes me in and I am trapped in his embrace. I can feel the wool in his shirt rubbing against my cheek, and instantly I am warm. His sweater smells like grass, and I realize it is probably from sleeping on the ground so much on our little adventure.

I don't want to ever let go, but eventually I realize that I must. We have to get back to the bike. Cookie and Bouncer must be starving by now and I mentally curse myself for forgetting to bring them anything.

Whenever I do force myself to let go, I hesitantly look up to Freddie's eyes and I find him already staring at me. Lust radiates from his eyes, rendering me helpless to the same feeling. But underneath the want, I can sense genuine compassion and tenderness. I feel my heart leave my body as he leans in.

_Bang_

Immediately alert, my head jerks back before our lips touch and I turn in the direction of the gunshot. There are two men dressed entirely in black scurrying our way. Their harsh laughter resonates across the plateau parking lot, giving away their location. I don't think they've noticed Freddie and me, but I stop breathing, just in case.

"It's them," I mouth and I grab Freddie's hand and run off toward Harvey. He is slower to react to the incident than I am. Our time on the run has not quite caught him up to my level of capability.

Or maybe I was wrong.

My scampering has alerted the man on the left to my presence. His eyes flash in the moonlight, and as they meet my own, I read bewilderment in their expression.

"She saw!" he shouts to his companion and closes in the distance between us while loading his gun.

I don't have much time to form a plan. Harvey is only ten feet away now, but a bullet has no problem following a bike. I have to think of something else.

"Freddie. Run! Get out of here!" I shout.

I don't feel him move from my side, and my state of alarm rises. "What are you doing?" I say. "They haven't seen you yet. You can still make it."

"I'm not leaving without you," and he remains standing there. Too late now. The killer is so close I can smell the garlic on his breath.

When the pistol touches my forehead, my first thought is how cold the metal is. I longed to be back in the arms of Freddie now. Everything seemed so simple and perfect only moments before. Too bad my brain is about to be blown to smithereens. I'm glad my last thought is of Freddie.

"Listen," my executioner says before pulling the trigger, "I know you saw what we did to that girl over there. Now, if you don't want to end up like that little whore, then you need to pay up." He rubs his fingers together in front of my face, no doubt imagining that there were bills there instead of thin air.

Freddie wastes no time, "Okay boys, here you go." Through my peripheral vision, I see him fumble for his wallet. What a stupid boy. He's going to give up all of that precious food money to save my life? I thought I taught him to be more resourceful than that.

My knee lurches up, slamming into the gunman's groin. He drops his gun as his body falls to the ground. Screeches of agony fill the air, but his partner is still standing.

"Go get Harvey. Now!" I scream at Freddie and at last I see the boy dart off in the direction of my beloved bike.

"You little –" his partner starts, but before he can finish his sentence, I have already punched him squarely in the mouth. As he clutches his face, I run and hop onto the back of Harvey. Freddie speeds off south, not even bothering to get back onto the road.

I clutch his back as I hear the first gunshot. One of them must have recovered themselves, and they were shooting to kill. I actually saw a bullet come within an inch of Freddie's ear, but I did not dare tell him. I'm sure he noticed anyway.

"We forgot Cookie and Bouncer!" I scream over the racing wind.

"They'll live, Sam. If we go back, we won't!"

I put my emotions aside and decide that Freddie has the better judgment this time. The bullets had slowed down to almost a halt. I finally breath a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one."

But I spoke too soon. A sharp, searing pain came rippling through my foot. I forgot to breathe. I forgot to think. So much pain. I've been shot.

**There is absolutely no excuse for me not updating for 2 and a half years…I am truly sorry….On the bright side…I think it's a very exciting chapter! I hope you enjoyed it! It won't be two and a half years before the next update. I promise. **

**On another note: I'm incredibly heartbroken that Seddie was not canon at the end of iCarly. That is a perfect opportunity wasted. Here's hoping that Nathan Kress becomes a regular on Sam and Cat and Seddie rekindles there.**


	11. Right on The Edge of Texas

Freddie's POV

She was bleeding. Profusely. I had to stop, but I couldn't. We hadn't driven far enough to be safe from the murderers.

Blood trickled down the wheel of the bike. The moon shimmered off of the red liquid, illuminating it. I don't even think a blind man would be able to look past the absolute gore that was engulfing Sam's left foot.

Slow, elongated breaths came from the girl behind me. They were only interrupted by her occasional whelping. I wanted nothing more than to ease her pain. I would have taken that bullet, if I could have.

"Agh"

"Sam, we need to get you to a hospital. I don't care what you say, that wound needs inspected."

I could feel her roll her eyes behind me. "No. We can't do that. Are you out of your mind? The doctors would turn us in in a second. Then we would be the poster children for what could happen to you if you disobey your _elders _and take a stand for yourself_. _There is no way in hell I'm going to a hospital. I would rather bleed to death."

I knew there was no arguing with a determined Sam Puckett. Instead, I revved Harvey up so much that the speedometer couldn't keep up with my pace. Eventually, the line didn't move at all, but stayed fixated at 100.

Eventually, the gunshots stopped and Sam and I had both survived the madness. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. As my pace slowed, I found what appeared to be a meadow down a dirt path that came off of the main road.

Without hesitating, I took the path. The aroma of flowers filled the air, bestowing on me an odd sense of déjà vu. As Harvey rolled to a halt, I jumped off of the bike and offered Sam my hand.

She winced as she looked at it, but I knew it was just her pain and not the repulsion of my hand that was the source of her bitter reaction.

Nevertheless, she took my hand graciously, and hopped down on her right foot. Her left foot hung in the air, drawn backwards.

"You need to lie down," I tell her. I sit her down on the grass before I shuffle around for the blanket in her bag. Clutching it like it is my personal savior, I take it out and lay it flat on the meadow earth. Sam carefully scoots her butt onto the blanket. My hand clasps the back of her neck to steady it, and I place her head on the end of the blanket.

Her right leg is bent and supporting her body, but her left leg lies limp on the ground, motionless.

Sam looks in my eyes, but she doesn't say anything. She doesn't have to. It is as if I can feel her pain too, but I feel like watching her be in pain is worse than the actual pain would be. I mentally curse myself for not being the one in the back, the one to get shot.

I start rummaging through her bag, looking desperately for medication.

"Don't you have any oxycodone, Advil…a bandage, anything?" I ask her.

She raises a wilting arm and points at the bag, "There should be a few Band-Aids at the bottom."

I resume my rummaging of the sack, finally grasping a small box at the bottom. I pull it out. They're neon. Of course. They're also way too small.

"Sam," I whisper under my breath, "These won't work. They…won't even cover the wound. There is no skin for the adhesive segment to stick to."

Sam sighs, "Well I don't know…I have some cloth and tape."

I nod enthusiastically, "That will do. Where is it?"

"Side Pocket."

I open the pocket and find some white cloth tied together with a blue rubber band. I set it aside on the brittle blanket next to Sam and plunge deeper for the masking tape. When I have both of my wanted items, I set to work on Sam's foot, although I am a sad substitute for a professional.

I lift up her foot, setting it down gently onto my lap. I am slightly surprised by how firm and solid her muscles are. Before I do anything else, I examine her wound, making sure the bullet is not still ledged into her ankle. At one point, my fingers get too close, and I can hear Sam wince, trying to hold back the pain.

"Sorry," I mutter. "The bullet must have fallen out already, so we don't have to worry about that."

The cloth is easy to pull apart, but I can tell I will have to ration it appropriately; there are only five pieces of the soft substance. I lay the first one over the red wound, covering up the bubbling ooze. Ignoring Sam's stifled screams, I hastily tape it up, careful to not apply too much pressure.

I treated her as well as I knew how. As I was putting on the finishing touches, the blood was barely visible.

"You're really good at this."

I looked at her, smiled. "All those years of watching my mother really start to pay off after awhile."

"I never would have thought. If I would have known her crazy, over-protectiveness would save my life one day, maybe I wouldn't have made fun of you as much." Sam said.

As I finished the last bandage I said, "I don't blame you. I really hadn't thought it would either. Anyway, you're okay now."

Sam gingerly touched her ankle, winced slightly, but pulled away satisfied. "Thank you, Fredweirdo". This time when she butchered my name though, it sounded almost like she was calling me "Honey". Only Sam could manage to make an insult sound like a pet name.

"It's the least I could do."

I was getting a little tired, so I rested myself on the other end of the blanket.

"I hope you don't mind if I lay here," I say.

Sam turned on her side so that she was facing me; our eyes were barely an inch apart. "I think I'll be alright," she says.

When she spoke, I feel that odd sensation of butterflies filling my stomach. I hadn't felt that amazing tingly feeling since middle school.

"Hey Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember that time in ninth grade when you were mad at Ms. Briggs, so you put chocolate pudding in a bucket over the door so that when she walked in it would splatter all over her? Do you remember that it was me who walked in next instead?"

Sam laughed, proud of herself. "You were so mad! I'm glad that happened. You looked so cute with chocolate pudding in your hair and a bad excuse for a livid expression on your face." She stopped laughing then, looking horrified. I imagine it was because she realized she called me "cute".

"It's okay. I was just going to tell you that I really didn't mind. I thought it was really funny too."

Her hand was sluggishly itching towards me, and I could feel the warmth radiate from her hand. We were almost touching.

But she was scared.

So I let my pinky finger touch her pinky finger before it gradually moved into the small crevasse between her pinky and ring finger.

She seemed to take the hint and realize it was okay, so she moved her fingers deeper into mine until our hands were completely interlocked.

"I'm really glad you find your total utter embarrassment amusing," she says.

"Oh I haven't always," I say, defending myself. "That time you dyed all my clothes pink, I actually did want to fight you."

"Ha," Sam snorts. "Like you even stood a chance against me."

"You never know."

The rest of the conversation got lost in the night. I don't really remember what we talk about, because to anyone else it would be considered chitchat, pointless chitchat. But to me, it was everything. I want to tell Sam how I feel, but I can't bring myself to do it. She has too much on her mind; I don't want to complicate things with us.

After an hour of talking, I casually slide my arm around her and pull her close to me. Showing is always easier than telling. The blanket was wrapped around both of us, and I realized that this was the first night we were sharing the shabby old thing together.

Her head falls on my shoulder, but I am not sure if she does it on purpose.

"Sam? Are you awake?" I ask her, my lips up against her ear.

When she doesn't respond, I realize that she is asleep.

It is amazing how less absolutely terrified I am of her while she is sleeping. She closely resembles the blonde angel from my dreams, not the sarcastic bully she was to me a few weeks ago. Yet even then she had her charm.

As I am admiring her, I notice the little locket she wears around her flawless neck, the same one she was wearing the night we went to the club in Gresham. Its golden ridges are rough to the touch, worn out. Suddenly, I can't help myself. I know that Sam cannot kill me for looking while she was sleeps, oblivious to everything but her dreams.

Carefully, so I won't wake her, I snap open the locket. To my surprise, mine and Sam's initials, S and F_, _are engraved in the center of the heart, one on each side.

Where could she possibly have gotten this? My mind starts reeling, begging some heavenly being to tell me what was going on. Sam has been wearing this almost the entire time we have been on the road. Can she really, truly love me? Did she love me then, before our adventure?

I shakily close the locket once again. She can't know that I've peeked into it. Sam has been letting her guard down recently, but I know this will push her over the edge.

Maybe I should bring it up tomorrow, after she's well rested. Maybe I should tell her how I feel. Maybe I should give up the bet, tell her that I will stay in Texas with her. I'll stay there forever with her.

As I run my fingers through her blonde curls, I realize it would be best to wait until we actually arrive in Texas, wherever her uncle was. I know she likes the game, and I don't want to appear too weak in her eyes. But oh, how she would love that.

My eyes begin to close as I watch her steady breathing. The last thing I see before oblivion consumes me is her dainty hand intertwined with my muscular one, just inches below her jawline, which my lips almost touch.

The sun awakens me early, too early. My arm refuses to rise to lift me up, and I feel as if I had only laid down ten minutes ago.

Sam is already up, and she sits on the blanket with her arms behind her, gazing at the sunrise.

"How is your ankle?" I ask.

She turns to look at me, surprised that I am awake, "It feels better. You're still driving today, though. I hope you're okay with that."

"Oh I think I should manage. Probably less of a mortality rate if I handle the wheel," I say with a smirk.

Sam stands up, dusting dirt off of her jeans. "I'm not sure about that," she jokes.

"Where are we?" she asks.

"I have no idea."

We begin to pack up and walk back towards the bike. As we get closer and closer to the main road, we can begin to make out the lettering on a few signs.

Sam gets excited when she sees one, and theatrically points to it in the distance, "There's one! What does it say? I can't read it. Can you?"

I squint my eyes so that I can read it better. Yes, I can barely decipher it now.

"It says Carlsbad, New Mexico," I say, and my heart nearly stops.

"New Mexico?" Sam asks for confirmation, "We really came that far?"

I nod, "Must have. I was so out of it last night and worried about you that I didn't realize I drove so far. Sam. Carlsbad is in the bottom right corner of New Mexico."

She stares at me, realization dawning on her face. It is a mixture of happiness, anxiousness, and a little twinge of desolation.

I speak the words that are lingering in the air between us.

"We're right on the edge of Texas."


End file.
